Mercy Corps in Iraqi Kurdistan: Rushing to help the displaced

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There are such good people in this world that not only will they try their best to raise funds for those in need, but also put their own lives on the line to help people in dangerous places.

Mercy Corps in Iraqi Kurdistan: Rushing to help the displaced

By Mike Francis

on August 16, 2014 at 5:58 AM

People fleeing their homes in northern Iraq before the threat of Islamic State extremists are seeking refuge in the Kurdish territory bordering Turkey and Iran. But the region's capacity is being stretched as it absorbs the latest refugees, who follow those who have fled before them from dangerous areas in Syria and elsewhere in Iraq.

Portland-based Mercy Corps opened an office earlier this year in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, to help address the urgent needs of the displaced Iraqis.

The refugees include but are not limited to people of the Yezidi sect, who fled en masse to the Sinjar Mountains, where their plight caught the world's attention. Kurdish troops, with American air support, helped clear the way this month for many of the stranded Yezidis to reach the relatively safe haven of Kurdish territory. (Yezidis are still being persecuted and killed, as demonstrated by overnight news of a deadly raid by Islamic State extremists on the Yezidi town of Kucho.)

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Mercy Corps in Iraqi Kurdistan: Rushing to help the displaced | OregonLive.com

 

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Record 65.6 million people displaced worldwide...

UN Refugee agency: Record 65.6 million people displaced worldwide
Mon, 19 Jun 2017 : There are now more people displaced in the world than the number of people living in the UK.

A record 65.6 million people are either refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced across the globe, the UN refugee agency said. The estimated figure for the end of 2016 is an increase of 300,000 on 2015, according to its annual report. It is a smaller increase than 2014-15, when the figure rose by five million. But the UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi said it was still a disheartening failure of international diplomacy. "The world seems to have become unable to make peace," Mr Grandi said. "So you will see old conflicts that continue to linger, and new conflicts erupting, and both produce displacement… forced displacement is a symbol for wars that never end."

Syrians fleeing conflict account for 12 million of the world's displaced people​

Mr Grandi also warned of the burden being placed on many of the world's poorest states, as some 84% of the world's displaced people are living in poor and middle income countries. "How am I to ask countries with far less resources, in Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia, to take millions of refugees if the richer countries are refusing to do so?" he said. The UN said it hoped Monday's record breaking numbers of displaced would encourage wealthy countries to think again: not just to accept more refugees, but to invest in peace promotion, and reconstruction.

More than 95,000 South Sudanese people have entered Sudan this year, the UN has said​

The world's displaced people - in numbers

There are 65.6 million displaced people in the world - more people than live in the UK. Of these:

22.5 million are refugees
40.3 million are displaced in their own country
2.8 million are seeking asylum

Where do the refugees come from?

Syria: 5.5 million*
Afghanistan: 2.5 million
South Sudan: 1.4 million

Who is hosting the refugees?

Turkey: 2.9 million
Pakistan: 1.4 million
Lebanon: 1 million
Iran: 979,4000
Uganda: 940,800
Ethiopia: 791,600

*Another 6.3 million Syrians are internally displaced

UN refugee agency: Record 65.6 million people displaced worldwide - BBC News