UNHCR launches new US$60 million appeal for Iraq operations | 1 out of 8 Iraqis now displaced

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UNHCR launches new US$60 million appeal for Iraq operations

GENEVA, January 8 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on Monday launched a US$60 million appeal to fund its work over the next year for hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people affected by the conflict in Iraq.

"The funds will cover UNHCR's protection and assistance programmes for Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey, as well as non-Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people within Iraq itself," a press release said.

The new appeal concludes that unremitting violence in Iraq will likely mean continued mass internal and external displacement affecting much of the surrounding region. The appeal notes that the current exodus is the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948. About one out of every eight Iraqis is now displaced.

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In 2006 alone, UNHCR estimates that nearly 500,000 Iraqis fled to other areas inside the country and that 40,000 to 50,000 continue to flee their homes every month. UNHCR's planning figures under the latest appeal are for up to 2.3 million internally displaced people within Iraq by the end of this year.

The UNHCR appeal notes that a significant proportion of both the internally and externally displaced Iraqis has run out of resources or will soon do so, leaving them and their host communities increasingly vulnerable. There are increasing reports of women forced to resort to prostitution, as well as growing child labour problems. The appeal includes programmes to identify and register the most vulnerable among the displaced so they can get the support they need.

Continued @ http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/45a270954.html

Edited to add UNHCR images (all images from UNHCR: http://www.unhcr.org/partners/PARTNERS/45a296f24.pdf)


AL TANF refugee camp at the Iraq-Syria border
/UNHCR



Iraqi IDPs in Fallujah/UNHCR.



Iraqi IDP camp in Fallujah/UNHCR



Ruwayshed refugee camp, Jordan, Iraqi refugee
familyr /UNHCR/P. Sands



Iraqi refugee mother speaks to her son in Baghdad
from her temporary home in Jordan /UNHCR/P.
Sands



EL HOL Iraqi refugee camp at the Syria-Iraq border/UNHCR

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