More Iraqis Displaced Than Ever Before: IOM

Five years after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, more people than ever before are displaced from conflict and sectarian violence, ensuring that the humanitarian crisis in the country is far from being solved.
According to the International Organization of Migration (IOM), although the rate of displacement has slowed over the past year due to improved security in cities and to sectarian cleansing of previously mixed neighbourhoods, there are now more 5.1 million Iraqis who are either displaced (IDPs) within Iraq or are living as refugees abroad. Of these, 2.7 million are IDPs and more than 2.4 million refugees, predominantly living in neighbouring Syria and Jordan.

IOM says conditions for the displaced have considerably worsened with shelter, food, and employment remaining priority needs for Iraqi IDPs and refugees alike.

And it notes that these needs remain unmet due to ongoing insecurity and a major lack of funding for humanitarian relief.

IOM's Chief of Mission for Iraq, Rafiq Tschannen, says many of those returning cannot return to their homes because they are occupied or have been destroyed, forcing them into secondary displacement.