Iraq Red Crescent Report: Nearly 2.3 Million Displaced (Mostly Women & Children) [View All]

Source: Associated Press

Nov 5, 6:28 AM EST
Iraq: Nearly 2.3 Million Displaced

By LAUREN FRAYER
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Nearly 2.3 million Iraqis - the vast majority of them women and children - have fled their homes but remain inside the country's borders and are in urgent need of basic care, according to a report issued Monday by the Iraqi Red Crescent.

The number of internally displaced people, or IDPs, in Iraq grew by 16 percent in September - to 2,299,425, the Red Crescent said. That figure has skyrocketed since the beginning of 2007, when less than half a million people were listed as displaced.

More than 83 percent of those displaced are women and children under the age of 12, the report said.

Four and a half years after the U.S.-led invasion, the Iraqi government struggles to provide basic services - water, electricity and access to schools and medical care - to citizens across the country. Much of Iraq, especially the capital, is beset by violence, crumbling infrastructure and rampant crime, and most humanitarian groups are unable to reach victims who need help.

"In addition to their plight as being displaced, the majority suffer from disease, poverty and malnutrition," the Red Crescent reported. "Children do not attend schools and are being sheltered in tents, abandoned government buildings with no water or electricity, mosques, churches, or with relatives," it said.

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