Aid agencies conclude 5-year EU-funded refugee assistance program in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the French Development Agency (AFD) concluded a five-year assistance program for Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil funded by the European Union on Thursday. 

Launched in 2017, the Resilience and Social Cohesion Programme (RSCP) aimed to strengthen the host communities and Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and the Kurdistan Region. 

The EU-funded aid agencies implemented several projects, including ones that aimed to empower local authorities and displaced populations and provide educational and psychological services.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) partnered with the European agencies to implement these projects, the head of the Aid Department at the Ministry of Planning, Kanar Fadhil, told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday. 

The government has also assisted nearly two million displaced people, including Syrian refugees, across the 35 camps in the autonomous region, Fadhil added. 

According to the official, some of the “basic assistance” has been provided by the agencies to the camps. 

One of the RSCP projects implemented in Duhok province was to improve solid waste treatment. 

The Kurdistan Region has expressed its objections to the closure of refugee and internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps across the country, citing the lack of reconstruction in the parts of the country devastated by the ISIS war. 

The Iraqi government has shut down all the displacement camps within its jurisdiction.

Additional reporting by Renas A. Saeed