Families in critical situation in southern Iraq as winter bites
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Version 0 of 1. Thousands of Iraqis are living in penury and running out of money after fleeing fighting and settling in the south of the country, the UN’s food agency said on Tuesday, warning that the situation was becoming critical for families in Najaf, Kerbala and Babil. Jane Pearce, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) country director for Iraq, said structures had not yet been put in place to cater for the people fleeing into the three southern provinces. WFP is distributing food to 50,000 displaced families in Basra, Dhi Qar, Qadisiya, Missan, Wasit, Muthanna, Najaf, Kerbala and Babil. Many of those who fled were unable to find refuge in the crowded Kurdistan region, which hosts close to half of internally displaced Iraqi families, while others said it was too expensive to live in the north. Some of those who fled south moved in with relatives, some stayed with other families, while others were using savings to survive. However, as winter advances, those savings are being depleted, leaving people less able to sustain themselves just as prices rise, Pearce said. “I moved to Kerbala because it is expensive elsewhere and I need shelter for my children. Time has stopped for us. There is no work, no schools and no future,” mother-of-six Najat Hussein told the WFP. “We receive WFP food rations every month. Without this help, I would be begging for food,” continued the 36-year-old, whose husband was killed in Tal Afar seven months ago. Many displaced people now live in unoccupied public buildings, in mosques known as Husseineyat, which have been designated as shelters by the local authorities, or with host families. Most of the families who moved south said they had spent their savings on transportation, the WFP said. The WFP provides food assistance to about 1.4 million displaced Iraqis in its 18 provinces. The assistance includes monthly food parcels containing wheat flour, cooking oil, rice and pasta. People moving from one area to another are given special rations, including canned food, while in the north, WFP began distributing food vouchers in November. “We are going to start needing more money … It is a concern to us how long we can maintain the levels of assistance we are providing now,” Pearce said. WFP needs $292m for its operations in Iraq this year, and has a shortfall of $200m. Refugee agency UNHCR says there are about 3.1 million internally displaced people in Iraq, including 1 million who were displaced between 2003 and 2013, and 2.1 million who were displaced last year. Angelina Jolie, the UNHCR’s special envoy, visited Kurdistan last week, and said the international community was failing the region. “We are being tested here as an international community and, so far, for all the immense efforts and good intentions, the international community is failing,” she said in Dohuk on Sunday. “It is shocking to see how the humanitarian situation in Iraq has deteriorated since my last visit [in 2012],” Jolie added. “On top of large numbers of Syrian refugees, 2 million Iraqis were displaced by violence in 2014 alone. Many of these innocent people have been uprooted multiple times as they seek safety amid shifting frontlines.” |