Key message
Civilians, in conflict affected and newly re-taken areas of West Mosul, face severe protection concerns and lack access to basic services. With forced displacement still ongoing, over 700 000 individuals had been displaced from West Mosul, by end of June.
Since the beginning of the Mosul military operations, on 17 October 2016, over 1 000 000 Iraqis have been displaced. 821 000 remain displaced, 45% in camps and the remaining in out of camp locations, predominantly in Eastern Mosul. There are currently total 3.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq and 2 million returnees.
The UN estimates that over 200 000 people are to be directly affected by prospective military operations in Telafar, Western Anbar and Hawidja. Limited presence of humanitarian actors in Western areas of the country, the surge of violations against civilians fleeing Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) controlled areas and families with members with perceived or suspected ISIL affiliation, are critical concerns.
On 13 July in Washington, Commissioner Stylianides announced €30 million of additional humanitarian support to reinforce principled humanitarian emergency response and address critical protection and assistance gaps throughout the country. This brings the total EU humanitarian assistance in Iraq to almost €340 million, since 2015.
The European Union calls on all parties to the conflict to protect affected civilians by fully respecting International Humanitarian Law (IHL), including the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants, and Iraqi law, safeguarding the rights and humane treatment of all those displaced, due process and minimum conditions in screening and detention.