Displaced Iraqis face mounting difficulties as fighting continues between Government forces and ISIL

According to a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection of Refugees, Volker Turk, recently returned to Geneva from a trip to Iraq, where 114,000 have recently been displaced from the city of Ramadi, in Anbar province, as fighting between Government forces and extremists intensified. Of the total, around 54,000 have gone to Baghdad, 15,000 to Sulaimaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, 2,100 to Babylon and around 900 to Diyala. Around 39,000 of those displaced remain in Anbar, with many unable to move further afield. Inside Anbar, internally displaced people (IDPS) seek shelter wherever they can find it, in places such as Khalidiya and Amriyat Al Fallujah, southeast of Fallujah, where they stay with relatives and host families or seek shelter in mosques and schools. Overcrowding is a major issue and in one community centre in Al Habaniya, people displaced from previous waves of violence shared space with new arrivals; in some cases as many as four families share a single tent. “We are also concerned about the processing arrangements in place at the Bzabz Bridge – a series of pontoons across the Euphrates River, about 65 kilometres west of Baghdad, which marks the boundary between Anbar and the capital,” UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told journalists. “We are also liaising with the Iraqi authorities, advocating for them to ease restrictions on the movement of people to safe areas.” People waiting on the Anbar side had no shelter and faced worsening conditions. The newly displaced were exhausted and anxious to move on to more secure locations. Some people had walked for miles without food and water. “While more people have been able to move into Baghdad in recent days, reports overnight suggest many displaced people are now waiting in Diyala trying to cross into the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” Mr. Edwards said. UNHCR has distributed mattresses, blankets, kitchen utensils, hygiene sets, fans and coolers to 8,000 people in Ameriyat Al Fallujah and Baghdad in recent days, with more distribution to another 12,000 people underway. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) said the agency has provided food assistance to around 60,000 people fleeing Ramadi. She added that continued relief efforts would require financial support from the international community because $250 million was needed for emergency operations between now and September for emergency operations and logistics. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50645#.VTlgR_Deums

MOROCCO: Libyan parties open new round of UN-backed political talks aimed at restoring ‘stability and prosperity’

A new round of political dialogue on Libya, hosted by Morocco and facilitated by the United Nations Support Mission (UNSMIL) in the country began in Skhirat, Morocco, today, aiming to end the crisis in the country. http://www.un.org/news/

NIGERIA: Security Council condemns Boko Haram attacks in northeast Nigeria, Chad

The members of the United Nations Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the spate of recent terrorist attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria and Chad. In a press statement, Council members extended their condolences to the families of the victims and their sympathy to all those injured in the attacks in Kwajafa, Borno state, Nigeria, on 5 April, and in Tchoukou Telia, Chad, on 3 April 2015, and reminded States that they must ensure that measures taken to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law. They also reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the actions of Boko Haram constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whosoever committed. Members stressed that it should be combated by all means, in accordance with the UN Charter. The Council’s press statement urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and their members to adopt a common strategy and develop active cooperation and coordination to more effectively and urgently combat the threat posed by Boko Haram at their upcoming Summit. It also stressed the need for a comprehensive approach to successfully combat Boko Haram and the threat it poses to the region and added that members welcomed the convening of a Joint ECOWAS-ECCAS experts meeting in Douala, Cameroon on 2 April 2015 as a step towards achieving this goal of enhanced cooperation.

UKRAINE: UN relief wing spotlights deteriorating health situation for conflict-affected Ukrainians

The deteriorating health situation for internally displaced and others impacted by the conflict in Ukraine has drawn the serious concern of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a UN spokesperson reported 7 April 2015. According to Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, at the end of March, the Ukraine Ministry of Social Protection reported that there were nearly 1.2 million registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country. However, difficulties in verifying residence procedures for them are affecting their ability to access to social services. OCHA said there is a high incidence of cardio-vascular disease, mental health and acute respiratory infections. Reportedly, cases of malnutrition and acute diarrhoea are also increasing in non-government controlled areas. The pressure on schools to accommodate displaced children is increasing because of limited number of available teachers and premises, added Mr. Dujarric. Further, OCHA underscored the urgent need for mine risk education as well and humanitarian demining as mines and other unexploded ordnance are increasingly resulting in loss of life. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlights that at least 109 children have been injured and 42 killed by landmines and unexploded ordnance in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts since March 2014. Meanwhile, he said the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has reported that as of 2 April, the total number of Ukrainians who have sought asylum, residence permits or other forms of legal stay in neighbouring countries has reached 777,000, with the vast majority of them in Russia. Despite the great needs, funding for humanitarian operations remains very low, with only 18 per cent of the $316 million required for 2015 having been funded or even pledged so far.

YEMEN: UN relief agencies rush assessment teams, supplies to crisis-torn country

Amid ongoing heavy fighting in Yemen, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that a plane carrying humanitarian staff landed yesterday in the capital, Sana’a, and two more planes carrying medical supplies are expected later this week. http://www.un.org/news/

NYC: Int'l Women's Day: Most Urgent Issue is Rape as War Weapon, from Nigeria, Somalia to Iraq and Syria. We don't need any words, we need Global Action!

"Women's rights are human rights!" some shouted amid a cacophony of car horns, drumbeats and police commands. The afternoon march started in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations, ending hours later in Times Square. Participants called for equality for the gender that traditionally is paid less for work and often has a smaller voice in policy decisions. "Today, you are marching in the footsteps of generations of feminists," said New York City's first lady, Chirlane McCray, noting that International Women's Day commemorates the day in 1908 when thousands of women marched through the city demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. Established by the Socialist Party of America, the celebration spread to communist and socialist countries, especially the former Soviet Union, where Vladimir Lenin made it an official holiday. "This march started more than a century ago, but we still have a long way to go before we get to equality," McCray added. She pointed to universal prekindergarten, paid sick leave and other causes that her husband, Mayor Bill de Blasio, has emphasized as a mark of progress for women in New York City. In November, New York joined the U.N.'s Safe Global Cities Initiative, which works to combat sexual harassment and violence in public places. Caeli Waldron, 26, flew in from Los Angeles to lead a contingent of high school students marching as part of a program called Girls Learn International, which involves American youth in the global movement for girls' education. "Women's inequality affects men because we're all fighting for equality in various ways, we're all connected — whether it's racial or gay or economic rights," said Waldon, adding that if, for instance, a man is married to a woman earning less for equivalent work, "your family is not going to be as stable." Another marcher hoisted a sign that read: "If women are equal, men are free." A salient issue on Sunday was rape — whether in India, where in recent months it has become a divisive and very public issue, or in the United States. Dev Singh, 14, came from Pennsylvania with a group of about 100 teens and adults belonging to a spiritual movement called the Sant Nirankari Mission that originated in India. "We believe in equality, and the key to respecting everyone is love," the boy from Chadds Ford, outside Philadelphia, said after crossing Manhattan to the beat of a drum pounded by another youth in the group. Speakers at the U.N. headquarters gathering preceding the march included Nobel prize winner Leymah Roberta Gbowee, a peace activist from Liberia. She acknowledged the men who joined the women for the march, calling them "men sisters." U.N. officials say much has been achieved under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, signed by 189 governments in 1995 as a pledge for realizing women's rights. But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the gains have been too slow and uneven. He said the most urgent issue is rape being used as a war weapon, from Nigeria and Somalia to Iraq and Syria. "We don't need any words, we need global action," the secretary-general said. "All the women must be at the front and center of our world."

SYRIA: Thousands of Kurdish Women Spent International Women's Day on the Fighting Front Against Radical Group of Islamic State

The Kurdish Woman Protection Units (YPJ) are considered a main force combatting IS extremists. While in the city of Qamishl in northeastern Syria, Kurdish women organizations revived International Women’s Day. The celebration included different activities, including the performance of a mime play echoing the situation of Syrian Kurdish women under the conditions of war and as victims of extremist groups. Speaking to ARA News in Qamishli, Berivan Alika, a member of the Shawshka Associationfor Women’s Rights, said: “Today, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, we wanted to shed light on the situation of women in the region through this mime play, focusing on the violence women are exposed to.” “We wanted to perform an original version reflecting reality, because the woman is the major building block of any society, and the injustice practiced against Syrian women under the current conditions of war are unbearable,” she said. Gulsen Muhammad, one of the performers in the mime play, told ARA News: “This activity reflects the real situation of the Syrian women during the hardships of war. Women are repeatedly exposed to rape and detention, and we wanted to specifically echo such realities by performing in the city center of Qamishi on this occasion.” “Assyrian and Yezidi women were even taken as sex captives by extremists of the Islamic State,” she told ARA News. “In some cases, Syrian women were also forced to become beggars looking for simplest means of life. Others were forced into prostitution in order to survive and feed their children.” The celebration of the International Women’s Day in Qamishli also included performances of folk dances presented in the Kurdish traditional dresses. Speaking to ARA News, Majdal Delli, member of the Central Committee of the Kurdish Yeketi Party in Syria, said: “Kurdish women have always supported men and joined them in times of revolution and crisis.” “Today we are here to show solidarity with women and support them in this progressive movement in the Kurdish region.”