Richard WarnickIraqi Red Crescent: Unprecedented Human Tragedy
Via IraqSlogger, there is a new report by the Iraqi Red Crescent (IRC) about the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq. By end of May 2007, the IRC was caring for over one million IDPs of which at least 70 percent are women and children (under age 12). Currently, the number of displaced people is increasing at an average of 80,000-100,000 each month. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates the total number of IDPs at 1.9 million or more.
“The men who were the bread winners are no longer part of the family. They either fled or joined armed groups. Most of the displaced women are uneducated and most of the men are elderly. This is becoming a serious social problem,” the report says.
The psychological well-being of the IDP is another major concern. The horrors of daily killings and explosions have a serious impact on the children and the women. Some IDP families took refuge with armed groups as they represented the true authority of the land for them. Some teenagers who lost loved ones joined the armed groups and started taking revenge from innocent people from different ethnic groups. Rape, armed gangs, theft, drug addiction was a common place among IDP. The overall picture is that of a human tragedy unprecedented in Iraq’s history.
The IRC is the only humanitarian group working in all 18 Iraqi provinces and is the organization chiefly responsible for providing temporary shelter and aid to homeless internally displaced persons.
Previous Posts:
Richard Holbrooke: Issue Visas to Save Lives (05/04/07)
Famed Blogger Leaving Iraq (04/30/07)
‘The disaster is happening now’ (04/16/07)
1.8 Million Iraqi Refugees- USA Has Accepted 400 (01/30/07)
Trapped in Iraq (01/16/07)
The USA Needs to Help Iraqi Refugees (12/30/06)
UPDATE: McClatchey news service has an informative article about the Iraqi refugees crowding into Syria at the rate of nearly 1,000 a day.
UPDATE: June 20 is World Refugee Day. Refugees International is asking people to call the White House and ask President Bush to increase the amount of US assistance for Iraqi refugees to $290 million.
UPDATE: IraqSlogger has a photo gallery illustrating the plight of Iraqi IDPs, called “Lifestyles of the Poor and Displaced.”
June 18th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
1.9 million homeless/displaced
+ 650,000 (+ many more since that count) dead due to our war
+ untold numbers of injuries,
+ untold numbers of lost: incomes, posessions, family members and friends
= a hell of a lot of suffering Iraqi people. How many have to be suffering before we can call Bu$h & Co. evil? How many until we can put this guy (and his cohorts) away as a war criminal?
June 18th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I remember the horror I felt when Clinton started to bomb in Yugoslavia. All those people wandering around with no place to go. It was on the news all the time. Why don’t the news programs show this tragedy now?
June 18th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
If we show the evil we are capable of, too many of us might try to stop it.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:47 am
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