Fairfield, Conn. (July 20, 2016) — Children and their families are taking huge risks to flee areas held by militant groups in Iraq ahead of an expected military offensive, Save the Children is warning. More than 30,000 people have fled the cities of Mosul and Hawija in the last few months, often on foot and under fire, with hundreds of thousands more expected to leave as the situation escalates. Leaders meeting at the Iraq Pledging Conference in the US today must urgently agree funding to ensure that children who have escaped after living under extremist rule for more than two years can be properly looked after. Conditions in camps where children have sought refuge are rapidly deteriorating, with severe overcrowding…

Iraq: International community must prioritise safety of Mosul civilians to avoid catastrophe •    Over $280 million will be needed to support 1.2 million civilians likely to flee Mosul•    Government of Iraq and international community must learn lessons from Fallujah crisis As the Iraqi army and coalition forces get closer in the military operation to retake Mosul, the humanitarian fallout is bound to be catastrophic unless funding and resources are prioritised to help up to 1.2 million civilians, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee warned today. As major donor governments meet tomorrow in Washington to pledge emergency funding for Iraq, the two aid agencies issued a scathing report outlining the recent humanitarian failures in Fallujah as a direct…

Iraq faces a humanitarian crisis this summer on a massive scale, with hundreds of thousands more people expected to flee besieged cities as escape routes open up, Save the Children is warning. Already this month we have seen 80,000 people leave the city of Fallujah, with another 70,000 expected in the coming days and weeks. A Save the Children assessment team in Anbar says more than half of those fleeing are children – and many are now living in makeshift camps without even a sheet to shelter under as temperatures soar above 40°C (104°F) every day. The current crisis in Fallujah is expected to be only the start of a much bigger emergency. In the north, an estimated 300,000 children…

Ongoing conflict in Iraq continues to affect millions of Iraqis. Interventions by the international coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), including military and logistical support to the Iraqi Security Forces and the Peshmerga, have resulted in the retreat of ISIS in many areas of Iraq. But it has also contributed to civilian casualties and unprecedented levels of displacement. Furthermore, the military campaign against ISIS has resulted in irreversible realities on the ground. This report on Sinjar provides an important understanding of new dynamics in areas where ISIS has retreated. In post-ISIS Sinjar, new security and political stakeholders have taken root, and local communities, affected by rounds of violence and frustrated by a lack of state protection,…

As Iraqi security forces battle to retake Fallujah, in the western province of Anbar, from the Islamic State (IS) group, humanitarian needs in this newest hotspot and elsewhere in the country are ever increasing. More and more, the ongoing large-scale military campaigns as well as political factors are overshadowing the pressing humanitarian needs of millions in Iraq.    In Fallujah, 50,000 people remain trapped in the city and are reportedly suffering from serious shortages of food, water and medical supplies. Some of them leave all their belongings behind and undertake hazardous journeys under snipers fire or make use of rudimentary means to help them get across the Euphrates River to flee the violence. The perilous journeys can last for days…

Iraq: An inside look into ICRC's emergency relief package distributed to internally displaced families in Iraq due to the armed conflict. See the video here.