Nearly 55,000 people have fled Ramadi since militants overran the city, in Iraq's Anbar province, earlier this month, the United Nations reports. Most of those displaced have headed to nearby governates – including Baghdad, about 75 miles to the east. The International Rescue Committee is concerned that indiscriminate security measures are preventing many of them from reaching safety. “Thousands of people fleeing Ramadi are stuck at checkpoints or being denied entry to safe areas,” said Mark Schnellbaecher, the IRC’s regional crisis response director. “For some people the situation has become so hopeless that they are returning to the conflict in Ramadi.” IRC staff monitoring the humanitarian situation around Ramadi have found that security checks are being carried out inconsistently, leading…

Close to 54,000 people from the western Iraq province of Anbar where the Islamic State militants have captured the provincial capital, Ramadi, last week, remain vulnerable and need food, water and shelter, the Danish Refugee Council, who are working hard to get to the displaced, said today. With thousands Iraqi civilians fleeing from the region over the past two weeks, according to OCHA, 54,000 Iraqi civilians remain trapped at the entry points east of the Anbar governorate near Ramadi with little provisions of shelter, food or water in searing 45 degree Celsius degree heat, DRC said. While DRC and other aid agencies have begun distributing food, water and hygiene kits, DRC has expressed concern that most people are not being…

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said an enormous effort is needed to cope with a dramatic increase in the number of people forced to flee their homes in Iraq. The ICRC is appealing for an extra 36 million Swiss Francs (38.5 million dollars, 34.3 million Euros) in aid, on top of funds already allocated for Iraq, to help deal with the increasing needs. There are currently around 2.7 million internally displaced people in the country, compared to around 300,000 in early 2014. The rise is due to the intensification of fighting in different parts of the country. "Vital infrastructure has been damaged in areas affected by fighting. Basic services such as health and water have been…

Every day there are dreadful reports of suffering from across the Middle East. In Yarmouk and across Syria, people are besieged. In Iraq, communities of all faiths and ethnicities are being targeted, and in the occupied Palestinian territory the daily pain of Palestinians living under occupation goes on - largely ignored and unseen by the world. So what can organisations like Christian Aid do when it all seems so overwhelming? Frances Guy, Head of Middle East at Christian Aid, explains. Since early 2014, there has been widespread conflict and displacement in Iraq. This has escalated in the past nine months as the armed group calling itself ISIS or IS advanced. More than 2.6 million¹ people have had to flee their…

A record-breaking 38 million people have been displaced within their own country by conflict or violence. This is the equivalent of the total populations of London, New York and Beijing combined. These are the worst figures for forced displacement in a generation, signalling our complete failure to protect innocent civilians” said Secretary General Jan Egeland. Today, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), part of NRC, launched its Global Overview 2015: People internally displaced by conflict and violence at the United Nations in Geneva. With internal displacement figures reaching a record high for the third year in a row, the report also documents that 11 million people were newly displaced by violent events throughout 2014. “Global diplomats, UN resolutions, peace talks…

After successful competition of the selection process through a Request for Applications (RFA) issued in January, Mercy Corps is pleased to announce that it has issued subawards to nine Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to support community and civil society partnerships to provide humanitarian assistance to conflict affected communities or activities aimed at maintaining, strengthening and rebuilding Iraq’s social fabric in response to the current crisis. The RFA was issued in January and received 111 applications. Following screening, 65 were considered eligible applications, and these were evaluated and scored by the Grants Review Committee (GRC). The GRC consisted of one representative each from Mercy Corps, Mercy Hands, Public Aid Organization, and ICNL, as well as a humanitarian technical specialist. Based on…