5.2 mln in need of assistance in Iraq - Amos

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (KUNA) -- The Humanitarian conditions in Iraq are deteriorating as 5.2 million people are now in need of assistance throughout the country, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said.
During the Security Council session on Iraq, Amos noted that several hundred thousand people were displaced in Anbar Governorate at the start of the year, yet the number of IDP's is now over two million across the country and the rate of displacement continues to rise.
In the past 10 weeks alone, she said, over 200,000 more people have been forced from their homes by violence in Anbar, Ninewa, Salah El-Din, Kirkuk and Diyala governorates.
Over 100,000 Iraqis have been registered as refugees in neighboring countries so far this year, she confirmed.
In addition to the two million displaced, there are also 1.5 million people from host communities, 1.4 million people who live in active areas of conflict where access to basic services is minimal, and 220,000 refugees who have fled Syria, all in urgent need of assistance.
"Over 900,000 men, women and children have found refuge in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq," she said.
The crisis in Iraq, she stressed, is first and foremost a protection crisis with intense violence and brutality being meted out on civilians from all religious and ethnic backgrounds.
Everyday the humanitarian community is facing considerable operational challenges in our effort to deliver aid, she added.
Amos called for a USD 173 million in winterization funding "is urgently required" in order to meet the needs of IDPs in the Kurdistan region and elsewhere.
"This is not just Iraq's crisis, it is part of a regional catastrophe which we have a collective responsibility to address," she concluded.(end) mao.tg