Iraq: Growing needs amid continuing displacement (UNHCR)

[struggle4progress]

... UNHCR estimates there are at least 1.6 million Iraqis displaced internally, and up to 1.8 million in neighbouring states, particularly Syria and Jordan. Many were displaced prior to 2003, but an increasing number are fleeing now. Egypt hosts an estimated Iraqi population of more than 150,000, and in the first half of 2006 Iraqis had become the leading nationality seeking asylum in Europe ...

Between 2003 and 2005, more than 253,000 Iraqis did return home, including from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries. Now, however, the returns have stopped and many more people are fleeing, including large numbers of skilled professionals crucial to Iraq's recovery.

In addition to those outside the country, between January and mid-November 2006 an estimated 425,000 Iraqis fled their homes for other areas inside Iraq, most of them following sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of an important Shia mosque in February 2006. At mid-year, internal displacement was estimated to be continuing at a rate of some 50,000 a month.

This displacement amid the continuing violence in Iraq is presenting an enormous humanitarian challenge and extreme hardship for both the displaced and the Iraqi families trying to help them in host communities. The enormous scale of the needs, the violence and the difficulties in reaching the displaced make it a problem that is practically beyond the capacity of humanitarian agencies, including UNHCR. And the longer it goes on, the more difficult it gets as both the internally displaced and their host communities in Iraq run out of resources ...

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-6XGPQM?OpenDocument

Assuming an Iraqi population of about 26.8 million, this means over 1/8 of the population has been displaced and over 1/15 has fled the country ...