Additional UK support for Iraqis in need
18 Jun 2014 03:24 PM
UK humanitarian support
for Iraq now stands at £5 million.
The UK will provide an
additional £2 million of emergency humanitarian relief to help tens of
thousands of ordinary Iraqis in serious need, Prime Minister David Cameron
announced today (18 June 2014).
This second package of support
will provide emergency medicines, including polio and measles vaccinations,
food and basic shelter to women, men and children affected by the crisis. It
will also enable aid agencies on the ground to trace and reunite families who
have been separated while fleeing from the violence.
An initial
£3 million of support was announced last Saturday (14 June 2014)
by International Development Secretary Justine Greening. Today’s
announcement brings to £5 million the total direct humanitarian support
that is being provided by the UK for this crisis.
Justine Greening
said:
The ongoing violence in Iraq
means there are hundreds of thousands of ordinary Iraqi women, men and children
suffering terrible hardship on a daily basis.
Britain took rapid action last
weekend to assist with the humanitarian fallout by providing water, sanitation
and medicines and funding UN mobile protection teams for vulnerable women and
girls.
This further package of support
will deliver food, vaccinations and shelter and enable UN agencies to trace and
reunite families who have been separated while fleeing from
violence.
Notes to
editors
-
An initial £3 million of
support, announced on Saturday 14 June, comprises £2 million via the
Rapid Response Facility (RRF) mechanism and a further £1 million for the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
- From this initial package, the
UNHCR funding will establish camps and provide dedicated safety and welfare
teams to identify vulnerable people, including women and girls, and help get
them the support they need. Meanwhile, £2 million allocated for through
the RRF will provide:
- Emergency and primary health
care for 65,000 Iraqis, ensuring the needs of people with disabilities,
injuries and women and girls are identified and supported
- Clean water and hygiene kits for
45,000 displaced people, which will include dignity supplies for
women;
- Psychosocial support and support
for gender-based violence victims for up to 10,000 women
- Clearance of unexploded ordnance
across all the land used for displacement camps.
-
The additional £2 million
announced today will provide emergency medicines, food and basic shelter to
women, men and children affected by the crisis. It will also enable aid
agencies on the ground to trace and reunite families who have been separated
while fleeing from the violence.
- Partners are undertaking
continued assessment of the evolving humanitarian needs and this includes
considering the needs of vulnerable girls and women. UK humanitarian support to
Iraq will build directly on outcomes from the prevention of sexual violence
initiative hosted by the Foreign Secretary last week.
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