Red Cross International Aid Trust of Canada

Published purpose

Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the humanitarian situation remains critical. The internal armed conflict persisted throughout 2007 amid a general climate of violence, particularly in central and southern parts of Iraq, resulting in large-scale population displacements. As a result of the conflict, millions of Iraqis have inadequate access to clean water, sanitation and health care. The ICRC's activities in Iraq focus mainly on assistance and protection activities benefitting population groups directly affected by the ongoing armed conflict and sectarian violence. Assistance activities include: the provision of urgently needed medical supplies; basic relief to families; maintenance and repair of health, and water and sanitation facilities; support to physical rehabilitation centres; and livelihood support, cash-for-work and vocational training projects targeting particularly vulnerable groups. Protection work concentrates mainly on visits to people in the custody of multinational forces in Iraq or detained by the Iraqi authorities, on the restoration of family links and on action to clarify the fate of people unaccounted for from conflicts involving Iraq since 1980.