Iraq: World Vision's Response To the Refugee Crisis

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Home > About Us > Publications > Iraq: World Vision's Response To the Refugee Crisis

Fact Sheet
World Vision’s Response to the Iraqi Refugee Crisis

Ongoing sectarian violence within Iraq has forced 2 million Iraqis to flee to neighboring countries, most leaving their homes, belongings, and livelihoods behind. In Jordan alone, between 500,000 and 700,000 Iraqi refugees struggle to cope without access to health care, jobs, or education for their children.

With anecdotal reports of families resorting to the sex trade, child labor, and other desperate means to survive, World Vision is especially concerned about the welfare of Iraqi children and women who are living as refugees. Reports also suggest that Christians and other religious minorities have fled Iraq in disproportionate numbers, and could be particularly vulnerable to violence and discrimination if forced to return.

Calling International Attention to the Crisis

In Amman, Jordan, Hadi, 12, and his siblings sit in front of the one-room apartment they've lived in with their parents for more than three years. The family fled Iraq when their father received a death threat. Hadi attends a non-formal school supported by World Vision through the Jordanian Evangelical Committee for Relief and Development.
[(c) February 2007/Brian Jonson/World Vision]
Most Iraqis who have fled their homeland still lack official refugee status, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This means they have few or no rights in their host countries—including public schooling for their children, access to health care, or legal employment to feed their families. As refugee families exhaust any assets they may have had, they face an uncertain future of poverty, discrimination, and disenfranchisement.

As a Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision is calling on the United Nations and the international community to respond urgently in the following ways:

Provide full funding for the UN and nongovernmental organizations like World Vision to provide the additional health care, education, food and supplies, and social programs needed for Iraqi refugees.
Ensure basic protections, religious freedoms, and human rights for Iraqi refugees—especially children.
Ensure that borders in the region are kept open to Iraqi families fleeing life-threatening violence, and that religious minorities and other vulnerable groups are not forced to return.

Supporting Partners on the Ground

World Vision plans to assist the neediest refugees with food, basic household items, health care, and special programs for children who cannot attend school. We have determined that we can help most efficiently at this juncture by supporting local organizations already serving those in need. In addition to providing food and other material assistance, World Vision will make its experienced relief officials available to provide these local groups with training in child protection, program management, and other issues that will increase their capacity to help refugees.

In Jordan, World Vision has partnered with Messengers of Peace, a local Catholic charity, and the Jordanian Evangelical Committee for Relief and Development, a Protestant organization. Regular monitoring and training will be provided to ensure programs meet our international standards.

Providing Basic Necessities

Our response will likely expand as funding and additional partners are secured. At this initial stage, World Vision aims to reach 10,000 refugees in Jordan with the following:

Immediate necessities like food, mattresses, blankets, and other household items
Basic health care, with particular attention paid to children and pregnant or nursing mothers
Safe places for refugee children to play, heal from any war experiences, and continue informal learning activities
World Vision has been working with vulnerable and impoverished families in the Middle East for three decades.

Get Involved

>> Please pray for the millions of Iraqis refugees and internally displaced persons who daily struggle to provide for their families. Pray also for World Vision's relief activities, to effectively assist Iraqi refugees from all backgrounds through our partners on the ground, especially in meeting the needs of vulnerable children.

>> Donate now to help vulnerable children and families caught in crises like this. Your donations are urgently needed to help families around the world in desperate need, like Iraqi families who have been displaced by fighting and persecution.

1-888-511-6548 : P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716

Who Is World Vision?
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

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