“The Kurdistan Region of Iraq has become a refuge for nearly a million people of the over 2 million people displaced in Iraq in just over 10 months. This is placing a huge burden on the region’s host community and severely stretching its social services. The Kurdistan Regional Government’s cooperation with the UN and its NGO partners has been invaluable in mitigating this unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Thousands of tons of relief supplies, the deployment of hundreds of humanitarian staff in the most trying of circumstances, could not have been achieved without the commitment and assistance of the authorities,” said Jacqueline Badcock, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.
The winter has arrived and is already testing the humanitarian response to the limit, with nearly 50 per cent of the IDP population expected to require some form of medical assistance during the winter months.
The high altitude areas of the KR-I can see temperatures during the winter regularly plummet below freezing. Displaced populations across Iraq are resorting to a variety of shelter solutions, from abandoned and unfinished buildings and religious buildings, which account for 25 per cent of IDP shelter solutions.
Many camps have been built and schools evacuated from IDPs. Staying with host families remains the most common arrangement with 19 per cent finding shelter in this regard. Others have rented accommodation, but with their funds rapidly drying up, many are likely to have no option than to resort to inadequate winter shelters. Ministry of Planning
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