MCC shipping supplies to displaced Iraqis

by Mennonite Central Committee

WINNIPEG—Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is responding to the growing humanitarian needs in Iraq, where persistent violence and civil tensions are driving people from their homes.

About 500,000 Iraqis have fled their homes for other areas inside Iraq in the past year, and internal displacement continues at a rate of about 50,000 people per month, says Rick Janzen, co-director of MCC’s Middle East and European programming.

In response to the growing humanitarian needs, MCC is sending 4,200 relief kits, 11,000 newborn kits, 22,000 school kits and 16,000 blankets to be distributed by local humanitarian agencies working with vulnerable families in Baghdad and surrounding communities.

The first three containers will be sent in early March from MCC warehouses in Canada and the United States. Four more containers will be sent within the next few months.

UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, reports the population movements in Iraq show no sign of abating. The agency estimates that the number of internally displaced Iraqis now totals over 1.7 million. Most were displaced prior to 2003 but an estimated 500,000 people have been displaced since the Samarra bombings in February 2006.—MCC

For The Record

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MCC shipping supplies to displaced Iraqis