Iraq’s Christian population, which numbered over a million at the beginning of the war, has been increasingly targetted by extremists and insurgents. Church bombings, kidnappings, extortion, beheadings, rape and forced taxation for being non-Muslims have forced hundreds of thousands of…
In 2005 UNHCR reported that in Lebanon, 55% of Iraqi households do not send their children to school; a further 25% of households reported that some of their children were missing school. Syria allows Iraqi children access to school but…
As Iraq news dominates the world media, it is all too easily forgotten that internal displacement is not new. Iraq has a history of forced migration that precedes the onset in 2003 of fighting between the Iraqi government, the US-led…
The IRCS is an independent national humanitarian society. One of the oldest Red Crescent societies in the region, it was founded in 1932 and recognised by the International Federation in 1934. We uphold international humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and…
We started work in Iraq in May 2003, with the objective of addressing needs resulting from the US-led war and the previous regime and then contributing to reconstruction. Ockenden established with the support of UNHCR its first legal aid centre…
As the article on page 17 indicates, the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) is responsible for playing the lead role in addressing the consequences of mass displacement and eventually facilitating the potential return of large numbers of displaced…
The good news is that the first quarter of 2007 has witnessed vigorous joint efforts by the UN Country Team (UNCT) in Iraq, the Humanitarian Coordinator and NGOs to address the neglected humanitarian side of the crisis in Iraq. These…
In a region already hosting millions of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, the scale of the Syrian crisis is putting immense additional strains on the resources and capacities of neighbouring countries and the international humanitarian system. The 3,300 refugees on average…
After the military intervention of March 2003 there were hopes that large numbers of Iraqi expatriates and refugees would return and contribute to Iraq’s reconstruction and development. Between 2003 and 2005, some 325,000 Iraqi refugees did indeed return. Since 2005,…
Iraqis are leaving their homes because of violence. According to interviews carried out by the International Organization for Migration, most IDPs said they fled their homes because of sectarian violence, generalised violence and military operations. Minority communities have been particularly…