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Iraq: Christians

Answer

Approximately 2,400 Iraqi Christians have fled Mosul over the past three weeks to the Nineveh Plain, Syria and Kurdistan. Those displaced are currently being hosted by families or in churches and other public buildings. The Department for International Development's (DfID) assistance and protection for these Iraqi Christians is delivered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Programme (WFP), as part of our wider financial support this year for work with Iraqi internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees. UNHCR responded by rapidly sending an international team to Mosul. Together with the ICRC and the WFP, it has distributed emergency assistance including food parcels, blankets and hygiene kits to those displaced. UNHCR is also engaged in providing emergency shelter and shelter rehabilitation in Mosul and across Nineveh. Within Iraq, the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) is registering new internally displaced people (IDPs). The MoDM is also due to provide cash payments to IDPs who have fled Mosul. A legal office is being established in Bartellah, in order to administer these grants. IDPs from Mosul in Kurdistan and Nineveh are being registered on a single database which will make the registration process quicker and more reliable. In Syria, UNHCR has fast-tracked the registration of those refugees from Mosul who have travelled to Damascus and Aleppo (around 40 families). Field officers travelled to the Qamishli area close to Iraq, where refugees have been arriving. Following registration, families facing financial difficulties are assessed for emergency grants and food assistance. The security situation in Mosul has now improved and the flow of displaced people has stopped. Attention is turning to sustainability over the next few months. The UN held a co-ordination meeting on 27 October involving UN agencies, the ICRC, the International Medical Corps (IMC) and the MoDM, with the aim of agreeing how to meet the needs of families displaced for up to three months.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

705 c83-4WA; 5994

Session

2007-08

Subjects

International assistance Iraq Protection Refugees Internally displaced people Christianity

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk