New Oxfam Report calls for Emergency Relief in Iraq
Armed violence is masking a humanitarian crisis in Iraq, where eight million people nearly one in three need emergency aid, says a report released today by international agency Oxfam and NCCI, a network of aid organizations working in Iraq. The report 'Rising to the Humanitarian Challenge in Iraq says donor countries which have no troops in Iraq, including Canada, must do more to help ordinary Iraqis meet basic needs for water, sanitation, food and shelter.
Armed violence is the greatest threat facing Iraqis, but the population is also experiencing another kind of crisis of an alarming scale and severity. Eight million people are in urgent need of emergency aid; that figure includes over two million who are displaced within the country, and more than two million refugees. Many more are living in poverty, without basic services, and increasingly threatened by disease and malnutrition. Despite the constraints imposed by violence, the government of Iraq, the United Nations, and international donors can do more to deliver humanitarian assistance to reduce unnecessary suffering. If people's basic needs are left unattended, this will only serve to further destabilise the country.
Publication Date:
30 July 2007 
