UK aid is reaching hundreds of thousands of vulnerable displaced people across Iraq and Syria, including those religious minorities affected by ISIL’s activities. All UK funded aid is distributed on the basis of need to ensure civilians are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, or ethnicity. DFID continues to work with the UN and the international community to ensure all minorities’ rights are protected and our aid reaches those in greatest need. To date, the UK has pledged £800 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the region, and a further £39.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.

DFID closely monitors the effectiveness of UN agencies in meeting the urgent needs of displaced people in Northern Iraq and around the frontiers of Syria, including through our field team. The UK is supporting the UN to scale up operations – including through funding key staff positions in agency field offices – to strengthen the UN’s presence at a local level.

In the latest Strategic Response Plan for Iraq, the UN estimates that 1.26 million internally displaced people are in need of assistance in order to be prepared for winter, with 800,000 people in need of immediate shelter.

The UK government has responded by funding £23 million of humanitarian assistance in Iraq. £17.5 million of the funding has gone to the UN, NGOs and the International Committee for the Red Cross for projects which include winterisation assistance such as shelter kits for people living in collective shelters and unfinished buildings. In addition we have supplied some 1,500 winterised tents and more than 4,500 thermal blankets for various UN agencies and NGO partners to distribute across affected areas.

The International Humanitarian Partnership (IHP) is building one camp in Shekhan which will provide shelter for up to 6,000 people. Camp construction is on schedule and should be ready to provide shelter by mid-November. The IHP was initially requested by UNHCR to build three of the sixteen camps that will provide shelter to those who have been displaced by the conflict in Northern Iraq. This proposal has now changed and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has taken charge of building the two other camps.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) has received 860,000 displaced persons in successive waves. Of these, it is estimated that approximately 390,000 are in need of shelter. Of the £23 million that DFID has provided in response to the crisis, £17.5 million is funding United Nations (UN) agencies and NGO (Non-Government Organisation) partners to provide shelter, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and protection services. We continue to respond to the crisis on the basis of needs although we recognise that many of those who are receiving assistance belong to religious or ethnic religious groups that have fled persecution.

The UN is working on a revised Strategic Response Plan (SRP) which will provide an assessment of the overall needs of refugees and IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). This SRP will include the shelter requirements for displaced persons up to December 2015. Our Advisors on the ground are working closely with aid agencies, the UN and the KRG to ensure that there is both an accurate assessment of need and an effective plan for meeting it.