MESOP : THE OFFICIAL REPORT UN & KURDISH REGIONAL GOVERNMENT (KRG) ON REFUGEES

11 Dec. 2014 –The United Nations (UN) and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a joint report have revealed that some two millions Iraqis in Iraq and Kurdistan Region had been displaced since the beginning of the year due to the violence brought by the Islamic State (IS) organization.According to the KRG Planning Ministry and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 47% of the total 2 million displaced Iraqis have taken refuge in Kurdistan Region amounting to 154,829 families.

There are now 964,246 Iraqi families displaced by IS violence. 157,711 families were in Kurdistan Region, with 60% of that number staying in Duhok province, and the rest living in Erbil and Sulaimani.Planning Minister Ali Sindi said that hosting refugees was a heavy burden for the provinces of Kurdistan Region in terms of economics and sociology, adding that Iraq, according to the constitution, had to take the responsibility of taking care of the refugees.

The joint report adds that there are some 225,000 Syrian refugees who have escaped the civil war in Syria that has been ongoing for nearly four years, with 90% of them staying in Kurdistan Region.

Jacqueline Badcock, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq and UNDP Resident Representative has said that Kurdistan Region had become a shelter for nearly one million people, who have been staying in the region for nearly 10 months, out of the total of two million Iraqi refugees. She said the huge amount of refugees in Kurdistan had a huge impact on region’s economy, services and society, adding that the KRG, UN along with other NGOs were the elements holding on resisting the crisis. Winter is at the door and there are predictions that 50% of the refugees are in need of medical aid. 25% of the refugees are still living in schools due to the law temperature. The report adds that the Iraqi government has prepared 12 million liters of fuel for Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhok, but that is not enough, taking into consideration that there are 600,000 refugees who are in need of humanitarian aid to face winter. Minister Sindi also said that the KRG and UN were set to push more efforts to make aid available to refugees to keep them warm during winter.