Human Wrongs Watch
Today there are more than 1.3 million internally displaced Iraqis, with 500,000 of them “living in extremely precarious conditions.”
Displaced Iraqi families in Um Al-Baneen camp in Baghdad | Credit:UN
This is just one of the consequences of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, started in 2003 and ended -only officially- few weeks ago.
In addition, the UN says despite the return of some one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) since 2003, large numbers of displaced Iraqis remain unable or unwilling to return to their places of origin.
The total figure of over 2,3 million internally displaced Iraqis -one million of them returned to their homes- is to be added to around two million Iraqi refugees outside their country, making a total of more than 4,3 million Iraqis (or one fifth of the entire population) living far away from their relatives, workplaces, towns and villages.
“These people are living in dramatic circumstances. They are homeless or living in slums and feel a high level of despair,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), António Guterres.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 