Third of Iraqi population urgently require some form of humanitarian assistance: UNAMI
The Government of Iraq and the United Nations have called for international help to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
Ten million Iraqis, nearly one third of the population, urgently require some form of humanitarian assistance, including 3.3 million people who have fled their homes since January 2014. Thousands of Iraqis are in areas under siege by combatant forces, unable to escape or seek safety. In addition, 250,000 Syrian refugees have sought safety in Iraq, the majority in the Kurdistan Region, where more than one million displaced people are also residing; 500,000 people have returned to their home areas, where they are trying to rebuild their lives.
“We face a major humanitarian emergency. We need the international community’s support to prevent further deterioration,” the Minister of Migration and Displacement and Chairman of the Higher Committee for the Relief and Sheltering of IDPs, said.
UNAMI Casualty Figures for the Month of January 2016
A total of 849 Iraqis were killed and another 1,450 were wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in January 2016*, according to casualty figures released today by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
The number of civilians killed in January was 490 (including 24 federal police, Sahwa civil defence, Personal Security Details, facilities protection police, fire department), and the number of civilians injured was 1,157 (including 47 federal police, Sahwa civil defence, Personal Security Details, facilities protection police, fire department).
A total of 359 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (including Peshmerga, SWAT and militias fighting alongside the Iraqi Army but excluding Anbar Operations) were killed and 293 were injured.
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Ján Kubiš, deplored the continuing high casualty toll, particularly a sharp increase in the number of injuries among civilians in January as compared to the previous month.
“One casualty is one too many. The suffering of the Iraqi people must end,” the SRSG said. “Iraqis, civilians in particular, continue to pay the price in this conflict. The Iraqi people should have the opportunity to live in peace and security.”
The figures showed that Baghdad Governorate was the worst affected, with 1,084 civilian casualties (299 killed, 785 injured), Diyala 61 killed and 79 injured, Ninewa 55 killed and 24 injured, while Kirkuk had 12 killed and 3 injured, and Salahadin 2 killed and 14 injured.
According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, in January 2016 the Governorate suffered a total of 304 civilian casualties (56 killed and 248 injured). Anbar casualty figures cover the period from 1-30 January, inclusive.
*CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas. Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate. Casualty figures obtained from the Anbar Health Directorate might not fully reflect the real number of casualties in those areas due to the increased volatility of the situation on the ground and the disruption of services. In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents. UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum.
According to Iraq Body Count a total of 1,195 civilians were killed in Iraq in January. https://www.iraqbodycount.org/
About 50 percent of the victims, including dozens of women and children, were executed by the Wahhabi terrorists, according to the released data.
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