Washington, DC - The United States is providing more than $181 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the Iraqi people to address critical humanitarian needs, including those expected to occur with Iraq’s planned military offensive to liberate Mosul from Da’esh occupation. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced this new funding, bringing U.S. humanitarian assistance for Iraqis to nearly $1.1 billion since FY 2014.
The humanitarian assistance supports the operations of the United Nations, other international organizations, and non-governmental organizations to help respond to one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world. The United States remains committed to supporting the Government of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Regional Government, in their response to the humanitarian crisis, as well as supporting the Iraqi people during their time of need.
The United Nations anticipates the upcoming offensive could result in the displacement of more than one million people from Mosul and surrounding areas, exacerbating an already dire crisis that has left an estimated 10 million people – nearly a third of the country’s population – in need of humanitarian assistance and more than 3.3 million Iraqis displaced inside their own country as a consequence of Da’esh’s brutality. With this additional funding to international and non-governmental humanitarian organizations, the U.S. government reaffirms its commitment to support Iraq and provide assistance to displaced and conflict-affected Iraqis.
The new funding enables the prepositioning of emergency food assistance and basic relief items to displaced Iraqis in preparation for the Mosul campaign. It also supports the procurement and distribution of emergency relief and shelter supplies, and it will provide basic health care, including maternal and child health care services, as well as education, camp coordination and camp management services, psychosocial support, gender-based violence prevention and mitigation programs, among other services. This money funds essential water, sanitation, and hygiene services that will provide displaced Iraqis with safe drinking water, clean latrines, and shower facilities. It will also enable partners to strengthen humanitarian coordination efforts through support to the International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix.
In addition to the funding to support Mosul preparedness, U.S. funding will support UNHCR and other agencies’ efforts to provide assistance to the estimated 230,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey, including shelter, cash assistance, protection, and other forms of assistance. It will also support ongoing operations in Iraq to provide for the humanitarian needs of those already displaced by the conflict with Da’esh, including livelihoods support and social cohesion efforts, education, cash assistance, and protection monitoring services.
Next week the world will come together at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and will further focus on Iraq and other global humanitarian crises including at a summit on refugees hosted by the President of the United States. The U.S. encourages other donors to follow our recent announcements with their own commitments to provide timely additional assistance for Iraqis, including for the forthcoming needs for Mosul, as well as for other global crises.