Iraq
International Development
Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development
(1) what estimate his Department has made of the number of internally displaced people in Iraq in each year since 2003;
(2) what assistance his Department is providing to reduce the number of internally displaced people in Iraq;
(3) whether his Department is taking steps to encourage Iraqi refugees who fled from their country to return.
Alan Duncan (Minister of State, International Development; Rutland and Melton, Conservative)
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that there are around 1.3 million
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
living in Iraq. Most are unable to return to their areas of origin
because of the difficult security situation, the destruction of their
homes, or a lack of access to services.
Between 2003 and 2011 the Department for International Development (DFID)
provided over £200 million of humanitarian assistance to IDPs, other
vulnerable groups in Iraq, and Iraqi refugees outside Iraq, through the
United Nations (UN) agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The UK
will continue to provide support to populations affected by
displacement in Iraq until 2014, as part of a project implemented in
several countries by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Multilateral agencies such as the UN also continue to provide
assistance in this area. In particular, the UNHCR is working with the Government of Iraq
to end displacement, through a comprehensive plan which is due to
become fully operational in 2012. The UK is also providing wider support
to help create a more stable and prosperous Iraq, to which all Iraqis
can return.
