DFID has led the British government response to the tsunami that hit the South East Asian region on 26 December. The lead staff member of the Operations Team of the Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department (CHAD OT) left London for…
Since the bomb attacks on the UN office and the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in August and October 2003 respectively, the ICRC has been one of the few international humanitarian organisations with a permanent…
Most of the Iraqis with whom we spoke expressed unequivocal solidarity with the goals and ideals of humanitarian work, sympathy with the efforts of ‘good’ humanitarian work and strong understanding of humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. There is…
Most Iraqis have entered Lebanon via Syria. They include large numbers of Iraqi Christians who believe they will find safety among Lebanon’s Christian communities. Iraqi refugees find it next to impossible to obtain an entry visa to Lebanon so have…
Population displacements caused by armed clashes and military operations remain largely unreported by the media. Affected areas are often difficult to access. In addition, displacement by armed clashes and military operations has generally been assessed as a short-term phenomenon, while…
Few now know that Iraq once had the most progressive women’s movement in the Middle East, dating back to British colonial rule. Even under Saddam Hussein’s despotic rule, Iraq – unlike its neighbours – adopted many international laws pertaining to…
There is a pervasive myth that Iraqi society is just another Muslim society and similar to Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein was a cruel authoritarian dictator but his largely secular regime opened spaces for women to become educated and enter the workplace…
In a statement made on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Olara A Otunnu, the then Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, stressed that “the children of Iraq are innocent, and all parties must…
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…