Government of Iraq's $80 billion budget ignores displaced Iraqis
Statement, Refugees International (Sep 29, 2008)
Refugees International accused the Government of Iraq of ignoring the
welfare of four million displaced Iraqis after an Iraqi parliamentary
committee made its third request this year for funding to assist them.
As the Iraqi parliamentary committee on displacement and migration
requested $4 billion of next year's $78.8 billion budget, Refugees
International called on the Government of Iraq to immediately provide
the requested funding and design a strategy to adequately respond to
the crisis. Refugees International also urged the U.S. government to
provide the Government of Iraq with the support needed to take these
essential steps as the humanitarian needs of internally displaced
Iraqis and Iraqi refugees continue to increase.
Number of cholera cases nearly doubles
Report, IRIN (Sep 29, 2008)
More than 300 confirmed cholera cases have been
registered in central and southern Iraq since an outbreak began on
August 20, with almost 50 percent of the cases occurring in the past
week, the health ministry's cholera unit has said. The Iraqi Health Ministry and the World Health Organization have blamed
the country's rundown water and sanitation infrastructure for the
outbreak.
Plane-load of Iraqis due to be repatriated this week
Report, IRIN (Sep 29, 2008)
The Iraqi embassy in Amman is organizing the repatriation by plane of
dozens of Iraqi families who wish to return home, despite warnings from
UN agencies about the security situation. Iraqi diplomats in Amman said they had chartered a plane to repatriate
the Iraqis later this week, during the Muslim holiday of Eid al Fitr. Disabled people and the elderly will be among the Iraqis leaving in
what, according to the Iraqi ambassador, will be the first official
return by air to the homeland since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Parliament demands financial help for IDPs, refugees
Report, IRIN (Sep 25, 2008)
A parliamentary committee on displacement and migration demanded the
Iraqi government allot US$4 billion in next year's budget to meet the
needs of more than four million internally displaced persons and
refugees.
Voter Apathy Among Iraq Displaced
Zaineb Naji, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (Sep 24, 2008)
Internal refugees in Iraq are showing little interest in taking part in
the country's delayed provincial elections despite extensive campaigns
to increase voter registration. Iraq's electoral commission has registered 72,000 displaced voters,
just 2.6 per cent of the total figure for those uprooted by the
conflict. Internally displaced persons, IDPs, are required to register on a
special list in order to vote in the upcoming provincial council
elections. They will be able to vote in ballots either in places where
they now live or came from. Iraqis living outside the country will not
be allowed to take part in the poll.
From exile to peril at home: Returned Refugees and Iraq’s Displacement Crisis
Report, Human Rights Watch (Sep 23, 2008)
In the last months of 2007, tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees
left Syria to return to their country. Whether they returned in Iraqi
government-sponsored bus convoys or on individual journeys, some in
Baghdad and Washington touted their move as a sign of success in
bringing order to Baghdad and a vote of confidence by the returnees in
Iraq’s safety and stability. Elsewhere, governments like Jordan and
Sweden that had provided sanctuary to Iraqi refugees may have seen in
the returns a signal that the time had come to begin compelling Iraqis
to return, rather than providing them with asylum and assistance.
Cholera cases reach 172, health ministry says
Report, IRIN (Sep 22, 2008)
A cholera outbreak is continuing to spread in central and southern Iraq
with 65 new cases registered over the past week, bringing the total
number of confirmed cases to 172, a health ministry spokesman said on
20 September. Since the outbreak began in late August, five fatalities have been
registered so far: a 10-year-old girl and a 61-year-old man in Babil
province; a three-year-old boy in Maysan; and an adult and child in
Baghdad. The Iraqi Health Ministry and the World Health Organization have blamed
the country's rundown water and sanitation infrastructure for the
cholera outbreak.
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