ERBIL, Kurdistan Region –Internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugee families in Iraq will benefit from 5.6 million dollars in aid donated by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The donation was announced Thursday in a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) press release.
UNHCR announced that the Dutch government has donated 5.6 million dollars to help refugee and IDP families in Iraq as part of the United Nations' multi-agency PROSPECTS Partnership, which aims to “develop a new paradigm in responding to forced displacement crises.”
The UNHCR press release further explained that the PROSPECTS partnership, initiated and financially supported by the Netherlands government, is “aimed at strengthened cooperation of humanitarian and development partners, in order to achieve durable solutions for the 1.4 million displaced Iraqis and the 286,000 refugees on Iraqi soil."
The donation will be used to provide legal assistance and civil documentation for internally displace families in Iraq, provide psychological support for child survivors of violence, exploitation and abuse, and increase access to education for refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“The generous contribution from the Kingdom of the Netherlands will ensure the provision of legal assistance and civil documentation for IDPs across Iraq, along with the provision of specialized individual and group-based psychosocial support for children,” the press release reads. “The donation will contribute to improve the access to formal primary and secondary education for Syrian refugee children in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”
Comments by H.E. Mr. Eric Strating, the Dutch Ambassador to Iraq, emphasized the importance of “urgent recovery and strengthened resilience” for those displaced by conflict.
He is quoted in the press release as saying, “If we truly want to assist Iraq in achieving durable stability, we cannot leave anyone behind. Assistance in the field of civil documentation, access to education, but also psychosocial support, is part of the most basic needs for people who are trying to rebuild their lives.”
While the majority of Iraq’s IDPs have returned home, there are more than 1.4 million internal displaced persons across Iraq currently, according to the International Organization for Immigration. There are approximately 286,000 refugees in Iraq, mostly settled in Kurdistan Region.
Most of the displacement in Iraq occurred due to the attack of the Islamic State (ISIS), which seized control of swathes of territory across Iraq in 2014. Although, the group was declared defeated by former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics.
At the height of ISIS violence, some six million Iraqis were displaced across the country. Displacement was particularly pronounced in the north and west of the country, including the provinces of Anbar, Kirkuk and Saladin.
Many refugees have also entered the Kurdistan Region and other parts of Iraq due to the ongoing civil war in Syria and the more recent Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria which caused many Syrian Kurds to flee their homes.
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