Monday night PAX organized a flashmob in the Family Mall in Erbil as part of it's activities in the framework of the "Kulluna Muwatinun - We are all citizens" program. This program is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU. The program promotes freedom of religion and the protection of minority rights from a conflict transformation perspective, aiming to strengthen a discourse of citizenship and equal rights to counter sectarian mindsets. The participants worked during 2 days to prepare the event during the training to define the message to be shared through the event and informed local authorities (members of the Erbil Governorate Council and Director of the NGO directorate of Kurdistan) and media about the…

Violence in Anbar province, western Iraq, has caused some 380,000 people to flee their homes, with more than 18,000 people seeking refuge in Tikrit, the capital of neighbouring Salah al-Din province, over the past month. Despite a very volatile security situation in Tikrit, a team from the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) is providing the displaced people gathered there with relief items and assessing their medical needs. Medical attention required for wounds, burns, or psychological distress Most of those arriving in Tikrit are women and children. Many require medical attention for wounds or burns, or are suffering psychological distress caused by the ongoing fighting. Despite the efforts of the local community to accommodate the newcomers, most now face very…

ACTED, with UNICEF, provides safe spaces for children and youth fleeing Syria, in Qushtapa and Darashakran Camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. Children participating in ACTED’s programs as well as community leaders have identified early marriage as an increasing issue in the camps. Responding to this threat to children’s safety, ACTED has sensitized staff and joined forces with protection actors to advocate for vulnerable children and youth. The conflict in Syria, ongoing for over three years, has caused mass displacement of nearly 220,000 refugees into Iraqi Kurdistan. Over half of this vulnerable population are children under the age of 18. Early childhood marriage is on the rise within the camps ACTED has been providing safe spaces and protection services for Syrian refugee…

Nature Iraq's Waterkeepers Iraq program initiates the Choman-Rawanduz River Expedition this week with a major Kick-Off Event on the 9-10th of May on the river near the town of Choman in Erbil Governorate. The expedition is an opportunity to promote and celebrate Iraq's amazing wild rivers and raise awareness about the threat they face. The Kick-Off will include music, arts, nature walks and presentations. There will be talks and demonstrations with experts on river safety and kayaking and water quality monitoring. All are welcome to this free event, which runs 12 to 5 pm on Friday,9 May and 11 to 5 pm on Saturday, 10 May. There will also be outreach events on 16 May in the Rawanduz Gorge ....…

As part of its initiatives to guarantee young Syrian refugees their right to quality education, UNESCO Office for Iraq expanded its activities in the camps, launching a new series of training targeting teachers and parents in the two main camps of Darashkran and Kawargowsak in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. After training teachers and opening the first secondary school in Domiz camp in Duhok, UNESCO Office for Iraq held similar training programmes in the two camps of Darashakaran and Kawargoesk in Erbil to introduce more than 40 teachers and over 35 members of Parent Teacher Associations to interactive learning and the complex aspects of emergency education. Held on the camps premises between 12 and 24 April 2014, the training was…

Funded from UNHCR and implemented by UIMS, within Transitional and Epidemiological Diseases program an educational workshop was held in Al-Obeidi camp for Syrian refugees. Where workshop targeted 60 male and female Syrian refugees, 20 participants each day and with the participation of six female Syrian refugees as volunteers who had trained in the first aid training project that been implemented by UIMS and funded by NCCI and UNHCR in 2013.