Iraqi Kurds plea for emergency funding amidst Syrian refugee influx

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) on Friday morning pleaded for more emergency funding after a total of 2,000 refugees have arrived to the Kurdistan Region since Monday to escape the ongoing Turkish military assault on northern Syria.

Hoshang Mohammed, Director General of the JCC, told Kurdistan 24 they need “immediate emergency funding for the required preparations to manage the influx of refugees and provide basic life-saving assistance to those who just arrived.”

“As we are approaching the harsh winter season, we have to step up and move quickly, we call upon all donor countries, UN agencies, and International NGOs” to provide additional aid. 

On Friday, a group of 734 refugees entered the Kurdistan Region, the JCC confirmed, despite the Thursday announcement by Turkey and the US of a temporary ceasefire. Reports on the ground say there is still fighting in the city of Ras al-Ain, known in Kurdish as Serekaniye.

“They are helped by the KRI [Kurdistan Region of Iraq] border guards and will be transported to the Bardarash camp. Within this week, nearly 2,000 refugees have arrived. Emergency funding is needed,” the JCC said.

On Thursday, NGO Cordaid reported that, within less than a week, the number of displaced people from areas alongside the Syrian-Turkish border had surged from 70,000 to 200,000 since Ankara’s assault began.

So far, Mohammed and the JCC have met with several international organizations “and more than 100 of them expressed their readiness to provide humanitarian aid.”

The first group of Syrian refugees from the anticipated mass influx of people expected to hit the Kurdistan Region came on Monday as 180 crossed the Fishkhabour border in Duhok province. The number has quickly increased over the last few days.

After crossing the border, refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) before being transferred to the massive Domiz refugee camp in Duhok by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Mohammed earlier told Kurdistan 24, “We expect more than a quarter-million refugees in the worst-case scenario. This will add an additional burden on the already depleted services and capacities” of the KRG.

The current number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kurdistan Region is 1,041,000 individuals, living either inside camps or in host communities and informal settlements. Out of that number, 229,000 of them are Syrian refugees who left their homes to escape the country’s protracted civil war or the brutal rule of the Islamic State.

Editing by Nadia Riva