Due to plunging oil prices, Baghdad cannot afford to meet the rising humanitarian demands of the crisis in Iraq. The Baghdad government’s $1.56 billion plan can only be met by less than half, so the U.N. is stepping in requesting that $861 million be provided to Iraq’s growing, critical needs.
The United Nations predicts that a large number of Iraqi residents will flee Mosul this year when Iraqi forces reclaim the northern city from Islamic State, adding to Iraq’s continuously increasing number of refugees and internally displaced persons. Approximately 10 million civilians need immediate assistance, and a third of this population have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict with Islamic State. Children mark 50% of this number.
In 2015, the Iraqi government provided approximately $850 million of aid to alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis, but only 60% of this monetary provision was effective. The fact that Islamic State has seized oil sites doesn’t help either, earning up to $1 million a day selling oil on the black market.
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