Germany has agreed to provide additional financial support to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, the UN Refugee Agency said on Wednesday.
In an official press release, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it welcomed Germany’s “additional contribution of 34.5 million euros for [the remainder of 2017] and four million euros for 2018.”
According to the UNHCR, Germany’s support will provide “life-saving” aid and “address winter needs” for up to 673,000 IDPs in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq over four months.
The organization’s aid packages include high thermal blankets, a stove, a heater, plastic sheeting, jerry cans for water, and kerosene.
Bruno Geddo, the UNHCR Representative in Iraq, said vulnerable families would receive financial assistance allowing them to decide how to meet their needs during the winter.
“The winter assistance that is made possible through the generous contribution of Germany will enable UNHCR to provide people with in-kind and cash assistance necessary to brave the winter months,” he said.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Ambassador to Iraq Cyrill Nunn said his government was committed to easing “the suffering of those most in need, especially children, women and female-headed households, older persons, and persons with disabilities.”
“The first cold waves of this year’s winter season have already reached Iraq,” he added. “Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are facing another winter away from home.”
The German-funded aid will reach displaced people in the governorates of Anbar, Kirkuk, and Nineveh, as well as Erbil, Dohuk, and Sulaimani provinces in Kurdistan, the UNHCR press release revealed.
Since 2015, Germany has contributed a total of 90.5 million euros in financial assistance to displaced persons and refugees in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
SOURCE: Kurdistan24
