IRAQ: Iraqi Red Crescent Committee (IRCC) distributes humanitarian aid to Shi'ite families displaced to Baghdad's Sadr City slum as they take refuge from sectarian violence plaguing the city

Members of the Iraqi Red Crescent Committee (IRCC) distributed packages of humanitarian aid to displaced and poor Iraqi families living in the sprawling Shi'ite slum of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. Around 325 Shi'ite families who were displaced from the volatile northern town of Diyala and settled in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr city received the aid from the IRCC office in Sadr city. The families claim they fled from different towns in the volatile province of Diyala after being forced out of their homes by members of the al-Qaeda organisation in Iraq. The packages of aid that were distributed on Wednesday (July 4) included foodstuffs, children's clothes, sandals and other supplies. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), since February 2006 about 822,810 Iraqis have been prompted to leave their homes and move to new areas in search of basic security. The figure is higher than the estimated number of 600,000 issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement. A recent U.N. report found that a third of war-torn Iraq's 26 million people live in poverty. It said that five percent of Iraqis live in extreme poverty, with Baghdad being the least deprived area, and the southern provinces the worst. It gave no comparison with previous years. The UNDP however said the study "showed a deterioration in the living standards of Iraqis" since Iraq was a thriving middle-income country in the 1970s and 1980s. Four years of war, following a decade of U.N. sanctions in the 1990s, have paralysed the economy and fuelled soaring unemployment.

ITN Source | July 6, 2007

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