ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United Nations has announced a major campaign to help the thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kurdistan Region – after loud calls from aid organizations and Kurdish officials that more relief is needed fast.
Over a period of 10 days, the UN is going to bring in tents, plastic sheets, kitchen sets and jerry cans, UN refugee agency UNHCR has told reporters. The goods will be flown and driven in from Jordan, Turkey and Dubai.
Some 200,000 people from the Shingal region have sought refuge in the Duhok area of Iraqi Kurdistan, after their towns and villages were taken over by the Islamic State (IS/ISIS). Most of them are in schools, mosques, churches, unfinished buildings and elsewhere. UNHCR says it has been pitching hundreds of family tents every day.
Now almost a dozen sites are available in the Duhok and Erbil provinces, with additional camps being set up by the International Humanitarian Partnership and contributions from Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, UNHCR says.
The UN agency expects the total number of sites to grow between 12 to 14, with a total housing capacity of 140,000 people. Its technical staff is assessing possible camp sites identified by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to determine their suitability.
UNHCR says its aid push is aimed at helping close to 500,000 people who have been forced to flee their homes.
“The major focus is on improving living conditions for the displaced, particularly people without shelter or housing. Conditions remain desperate for those without access to suitable shelter, people struggling to find food and water to feed their families and those without access to primary medical care,” it adds.
Before the announcement, two weeks into the crisis aid workers in Iraqi Kurdistan were criticizing the UN for its low visibility, and wondering out loud what happened to the $500 million that Saudi Arabia recently gifted to the United Nations to help the refugees and internally displaced in Iraq. Because of that gift, other countries were hardly ready to donate.
Because of the crisis situation, during a visit by European Union delegates Kurdish President Massoud Barzani called on the international community to do more for the many refugees in Kurdistan. According to the KRG, 275,000 internally displaced (IDPs) and refugees require immediate accommodation.
At the same time, a call was published by three human rights organizations urging the UN and other aid agencies “to act quickly to provide necessary infrastructure and basic needs and services, such as food, sufficient sanitation systems, medical care and protection to people in the camps as well as to people needing shelter and housing outside of the camps.”
The German-Kurdish organization Wadi, the US-based Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and Duhok-based Alind Organization pointed out that “the Kurdistan Regional authorities along with local communities are doing much to provide help for those in need, but the region is overwhelmed by the enormity of the influx of the hundreds of thousands displaced Yezidis, Christians, Shabaks, Turkmen, Arabs and others fleeing the horrific violence perpetuated by the Islamic State forces.”
The Kurdish authorities have recently allocated another $10 million for the aid effort, on top of $15 million already sent to the Duhok province.
The government also plans to establish a special body to deal with emergencies, and decided to conduct a census to determine the exact number of IDPs and refugees. Until now, aid organizations do not know exactly how many people need their help.
The most visibly active of the UN agencies has been the children’s fund, UNESCO, aid workers on the ground in Duhok say.
The children’s fund reports that its regular work was badly affected by the new influx, and that it still managed to reach about 100,000 new IDPs with life-saving programs, distributing hygiene kits, bottled drinking water, baby hygiene kits, buckets and jerry cans.
It says it spent a third of the 90 million dollars it received from the Saudi gift on this emergency aid.
“A great deal has been done in a very short time, and the scale of our operation is expanding by the day; but we know very well that it is not enough,” UNESCO said in a statement to Rudaw.
The UN's World Food Programme says it has already served up more than a million meals to displaced people in the past two weeks alone.
