NEW YORK – Three dozen charities and faith groups have called on the US Government to cooperate more with Iraq’s Kurdish region in an effort to address a growing refugee crisis from Islamist-linked violence.
A letter from the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, the National Council of Churches USA and other influential groups urges Washington to lay out a “clear, long-term strategy” on Iraq’s worsening humanitarian situation.
“Displaced Iraqis — who have primarily sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), but are found in locations across the country — face a number of acute needs which are compounded by the extreme heat during the summer months and fuel shortages,” the letter says.
“In the KRI, there is an urgent need to mitigate the impact that large numbers of displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees are having on host communities, public services, and government structures. Baghdad’s withholding of government salaries and resources related to its ongoing dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has only made the situation worse.”
An estimated 30,000 people fled the fighting that erupted over the weekend between Kurdish forces and militants, adding to more than one million Iraqi and Syrian refugees who have fled to Kurdish areas as Islamic State (IS) militants make battlefield gains.
One of the signatories, Erik Gustafson, director of the US-based Education for Peace in Iraq Center (Epic), said Kurdish regions offer aid workers a secure zone from which to operate that is under-used by US Government-backed projects.
“There’s a tendency within the US Embassy in Baghdad and the State Department to not work directly with the KRG – from a wariness to deal with anything other than a national government,” he told Rudaw on Tuesday. “The US needs to be more engaged in general, and more engaged in the Kurdistan region.”
Amnesty International, a UK-based rights group, has warned of tens of thousands of civilians fleeing Sinjar (Shingal) and nearby areas following an ISIS attack, with many refugees trapped without food, water and shelter in the Sinjar Mountains south of the city.
“We urge the international community to provide humanitarian assistance, while the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities must spare no effort to ensure that much-needed aid is delivered to the displaced civilians,” said the group’s crisis manager Donatella Rovera.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest praised Kurdish Peshmerga forces for playing a “critical role” against ISIS during recent clashes and said the US government is working with Kurdish officials on the growing refugee crisis.
“US officials from Washington and Baghdad are also in contact with Iraqi officials from Baghdad and Erbil to discuss a coordinated approach to the humanitarian situation,” he said on Tuesday. “We urge all Iraqi authorities, civil society and international partners to work the UN and its partners to deliver lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”
