Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq
Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq
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 destabilize the country.
Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq (pdf 324.4 kb)
Executive summary
While horrific violence dominates the lives of millions of ordinary people inside Iraq, another kind of crisis, also due to the impact of war, has been slowly unfolding. Up to eight million people are now in need of emergency assistance. This figure includes:
four million people who are ‘food-insecure and in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance’
more than two million displaced people inside Iraq
over two million Iraqis in neighboring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, making this the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.
This paper describes the humanitarian situation facing ordinary Iraqis and argues that, while violence and a failure to protect fundamental human rights pose the greatest problems, humanitarian needs such as food, shelter, water and sanitation must be given more attention.
Although responding to those needs is extremely challenging, given the lack of security and of competent national institutions, Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) believe that more could be done. The government of Iraq could extend the distribution of food parcels, widen the coverage of emergency cash payments, decentralize decision-making and support civil society groups providing assistance. The international donors and UN agencies could intensify their efforts to coordinate, fund and deliver emergency aid.
These measures will not transform the plight of Iraqis but they can help alleviate their suffering. The paper focuses on needs inside the country, which are less visible, and does not refer in detail to the refugees in neighboring countries.
Conclusion and policy recommendations
Bringing an end to war and civil strife in Iraq must be the overriding priority for the national government and the international community. However, the government, the countries of the MNF-I, the UN agencies, and international donors can do more to meet the other survival needs of the Iraqi population, despite the challenging environment.
The government of Iraq should take urgent action to address the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. Measures should include:
Local authorities should assume greater responsibility for providing assistance, shelter, and essential services to displaced people, as well as to vulnerable local populations, and should be given the power and resources by central government to do so.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs should increase the $100 per month payment to households headed by widows so that it is closer to the average monthly wage of $200, and expand the range of recipients to include other vulnerable groups, such as the displaced population.
The Ministry of Trade should improve the Public Distribution System (PDS). This should include the establishment of a temporary PDS identity card system so that displaced people can receive food rations.
The government should create a cross-ministerial team to co-ordinate its humanitarian response and should release funds at its disposal for delivery of this response.
Explicit orders should be given to the Iraqi security forces that they, like all armed groups, should not harm civilian life, property, or infrastructure, and should respect the population’s right to assistance.
The government of Iraq should support national NGOs through a legal framework, including registration procedures that recognise their rights and independence and secure their legal authority to operate in Iraq.
International governments with capacity and influence in Iraq should recognise their responsibilities towards the people of Iraq by:
Supporting Iraqi ministries through advice and technical assistance in order to ensure their capacity to provide basic services, notably improved food distribution, shelter, and the extension of welfare payments.
The governments of the Multi-National Force in Iraq (MNF-I) should recognise their particular responsibilities towards the people of Iraq by:
Ensuring that the armed forces respect their moral and legal obligation not to harm civilians or their property, or essential infrastructure.
Donors need to increase support to national and international NGOs, the ICRC, the IRCS, and UN agencies delivering the humanitarian response:
Donors should provide increased emergency funding that is readily accessible and flexible. In particular, donors must build on discussions under way with NGOs to better understand ‘remote programming’ and mechanisms for monitoring and verification.
Since many humanitarian organisations will not accept money from governments engaged in the conflict, it is important that donors from other countries, such as Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, increase their funding for humanitarian action.
The UN, especially UNAMI and OCHA, needs to continue to strengthen its humanitarian role inside Iraq by:
Working towards the achievement of a co-ordinated response with the government of Iraq and NGOs, and between UN agencies.
Developing a more nuanced approach to the movement of UN staff that differentiates between constraints in different areas and which is more independent of the MNF-I, thereby allowing better needs assessment, co-ordination, and service delivery.
Building on the emergency field co-ordination structure established by the NCCI to enable rapid response to identified needs.
Administering a new pooled fund for rapid response that should be able to disburse monies to NGOs.
Date of original publication: July 2007
