Hosting displaced Iraqis in Kurdistan a 'national and humanitarian duty:' Masoud Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani said on Thursday that hosting Iraqis displaced as a result of the rise of the Islamic State in 2014 is a crucial "national and humanitarian duty" of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

The comments came in a statement released after Barzani’s meeting in the regional capital of Erbil with the head of Iraq's Sunni Endowment, Saad Hamid Kambash, and his accompanying delegation.

According to the statement, Kambash expressed his thanks to Barzani and the Kurdistan Region, which has multiple times opened its doors to hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis. 

For his part, Barzani stressed that the people of Kurdistan are working to deepen the culture of coexistence between different sects and ethnicities.

The Kurdistan Region is home to over one million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)who live in host communities and camps where the KRG, along with international and local aid groups, provides basic services such as electricity, health care, education, and security.

According to the KRG's Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC), there are around 800,000 IDPs and 265,000 refugees who now live within the Kurdistan Region on which it spends some $78 million monthly in services and aid.

Editing by John J. Catherine