The humanitarian situation in Iraq is critical, and under the current circumstances, children are more likely to suffer than anyone else.
One in five Iraqi children are at serious risk of death, injury, sexual violence, abduction, or indoctrination into a violent extremist group, according to a United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report released Thursday. After recent military operations against ISIS in Fallujah and Mosul, one-third of Iraqi children are in need of humanitarian aid.
“Children in Iraq are in the firing line and are being repeatedly and relentlessly targeted,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Iraq Representative. “We appeal to all parties for restraint and to respect and protect children. We must help give children the support they need to recover from the horrors of war and contribute to a more peaceful and prosperous Iraq.”
The Iraq War may have officially ended over four years ago, but civilians are still dying en mass. Nearly 19,000 Iraqis died between January 2014 and October 2015 from clashes and other security related incidents, according to a U.N. report released earlier this year. While a vast number of civilians are confronting hardships, Iraqi children are often facing the greatest struggle of anyone.
People fleeing Fallujah are also in dire need, as U.N. officials said earlier this month that money to help the displaced is running out.
Many children who fled ISIS-held regions are now in safer cities like Erbil, but are now living in abject poverty, scrounging and scavenging in landfills for scraps.
“This is not an appropriate place for children, but they are forced to do it,” Ali Hessah, a landfill supervisor outside of Erbil, told Al Jazeera in March. Hessah said he leaves the gates to the landfill open so that displaced children and parents can work.
The End Of The Iraq War Hasn’t Stopped Iraqis From Being Killed In Staggering NumbersWorld by CREDIT: AP Photo/Santi Palacios The Iraq War has technically been over for more than four years, but Iraqis…thinkprogress.orgOthers have fled with their families to Europe, where they often face difficult conditions in squalor-ridden refugee camps. In fact, the situation for many Iraqi refugees has been so dire that many have decided to return to Turkey or even Iraq.
“The food was terrible, so disgusting that not even animals should be fed it,” an Iraqi named Abdullah told the LA Times from Germany. “They made us sleep in these cold, empty buildings and when someone said they were sick, they just ignored us. You could feel it everywhere that Germans looked down at us like we were bums. I miss my family and can’t wait to get home.”
The children who don’t escape from such places often face a worse fate. Some are indoctrinated into extremist groups like ISIS and forced to follow their tyrannic rule or face repercussions like rape or death. 1,496 children have been abducted in the last two years and a half years, according to UNICEF.
“The kidnapping of children from their homes, their schools and from the streets is horrifying”, said Hawkins. “These children are being ripped from their families and are subjected to sickening abuses and exploitation.”