Friday, November 24, 2006
IOM: humanitarian crisis looming
Humanitarian
More than 1,000 Iraqis a day are being displaced by the sectarian violence that began last Feb. 22 with the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra, according to a report released this week by the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, a U.N.-associated group. This increasing movement of Iraqi families, caused by the lack of security and growth of armed militias and criminal gangs, is adding to the already-chaotic governmental situation in Baghdad, according to a series of U.N., U.S. and non-governmental reports released in the past weeks.
When families who fled from Baghdad to Qadssiya, a fairly safe district 200 miles south of the capital, were questioned by the IOM about why they left their homes, "almost all said it was due to direct threats to their lives ... letters, anonymous calls, graffiti on their homes or in their neighborhoods." All were Shiites.
The internal refugees are creating a growing humanitarian crisis that, the IOM report says, will primarily affect single women, children, and the sick and elderly as winter approaches. Security fears appear well-founded; a report Wednesday by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said the number of Iraqi civilians killed in October reached 3,709, a new monthly high. Many residents, especially professionals, are fleeing the country in larger numbers. The U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees said earlier this month that up to 2,000 Iraqis a day are going to Syria and an additional 1,000 a day to Jordan. Overall, the High Commissioner estimates that since the war began in 2003, 1.6 million Iraqis had been displaced internally and up to 1.8 million are living outside the country.
When families who fled from Baghdad to Qadssiya, a fairly safe district 200 miles south of the capital, were questioned by the IOM about why they left their homes, "almost all said it was due to direct threats to their lives ... letters, anonymous calls, graffiti on their homes or in their neighborhoods." All were Shiites.
The internal refugees are creating a growing humanitarian crisis that, the IOM report says, will primarily affect single women, children, and the sick and elderly as winter approaches. Security fears appear well-founded; a report Wednesday by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said the number of Iraqi civilians killed in October reached 3,709, a new monthly high. Many residents, especially professionals, are fleeing the country in larger numbers. The U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees said earlier this month that up to 2,000 Iraqis a day are going to Syria and an additional 1,000 a day to Jordan. Overall, the High Commissioner estimates that since the war began in 2003, 1.6 million Iraqis had been displaced internally and up to 1.8 million are living outside the country.
