The United Nations Refugee Agency ( UNHCR) announced on Thursday that it is more than doubling its aid budget this year for uprooted Iraqis to 123 million U.S. dollars and called on donors to help it meet this target.
"The needs of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced are enormous and growing by the day," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in a statement.
"UNHCR's revised appeal seeks to increase support to both the uprooted and those hosting them, but it must also be part of a much broader international effort because the problem is so huge," Guterres added.
According to the UNHCR, the massive and sustained displacement of Iraqis in the face of extreme violence continues unabated, with a significant impact on the surrounding region.
More than 4 million Iraqis have been uprooted - some during the pre-2003 regime of Saddam Hussein and hundreds of thousands of others since then. About 2 million Iraqis are in Syria and Jordan alone, and another 2 million are displaced internally.
Calling it the largest population movement in the Middle East since Palestinians were displaced following the creation of Israel in 1948, the UNHCR appeal noted that at least one in seven Iraqis is uprooted, with 2,000 more estimated to be fleeing their homes daily.
The revised budget of 123 million U.S. dollars includes an earlier appeal in January for 60 million U.S. dollars, an amount already surpassed by donors, the UNHCR said.
So far, UNHCR has received 67 million U.S. dollars for its Iraq operations. Another 10 million U.S. dollars is pledged or in the pipeline.
Source: Xinhua
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