Providing Supplies
UNHCR distributes life-sustaining items such as mattresses, blankets, kitchen sets, jerry cans, stoves and fuel, soap and other sanitary items to refugees under its care. These supplies are tailored to the specific needs of the refugee population: for example, winterisation kits are distributed in camps and communities where sub-zero temperatures occur. UNHCR maintains global stockpiles of core relief items for immediate delivery in emergency situations.
After fleeing their homes with few possessions, displaced Iraqi families have little to keep them warm through the winter when temperatures can plummet to minus 16 degrees Celsius. During the winter months, UNHCR provides hundreds of thousands of Iraqis with ‘winterisation’ kits containing thermal blankets, quilts, a heating stove, kerosene, and a plastic sheet for insulation.
Providing Shelter
UNHCR provides refugees with emergency shelter — tents, tarpaulins and demountable housing — in the immediate aftermath of displacement. More broadly, we are responsible for site planning and camp management to ensure refugee settlements are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. For those living outside camps, UNHCR funds the rehabilitation of communal shelters, the construction of new homes and rental assistance for those in urban situations. UNHCR also provides materials that displaced people need to build a home themselves under self-help schemes.
Seasonal extremes are a major concern for displaced Iraqis living in non-permanent dwellings. UNHCR is working with local authorities to set up emergency shelters and provide families with tents, plastic sheeting and mattresses. This has included the delivery of close to a thousand family tents to a new camp for displaced people near Duhok in the Kurdistan region. We are also involved in the planning and construction of future camps as they are needed.
Providing Food
Malnutrition is a common consequence of conflict and displacement. UNHCR works with the World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure that all refugees have access to adequate nutrient-rich food. UNHCR assists with the distribution of food rations in camps and provide urban refugees with vouchers and cash assistance for the purchase of food and groceries. In acute situations, UNHCR supports emergency nutrition and therapeutic feeding programs, supplying fortified milks and ready-to-use therapeutic foods.
Providing Protection
People fleeing war, disaster or persecution can be very vulnerable. UNHCR supplies displaced people with essential items, food and shelter to protect them from having to make dangerous decisions to survive. On a larger scale, UNHCR negotiates safe passage, asylum spaces and humanitarian access, upholding the rights of refugees and minimising the threat of violence, including sexual assault.
Part of UNHCR’s work in emergencies is identifying vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women, and children to receive special protection services. Protection teams are stationed at transit centres to carry out this work and to ensure people have safe passage out of the conflict zone. In the camps for internally displaced people (IDPs), camp management includes making sure that the most endangered inhabitants are protected from violence and exploitation.
Providing Medication
UNHCR facilitates access to basic healthcare for refugees through camp clinics and local healthcare providers. Priority health services include emergency medical care for those who have suffered violence, reproductive services and treatment for infants and the elderly. UNHCR also coordinates immunisation programs to prevent the spread of diseases in crowded refugee settings.
Providing Cash Assistance
Most refugees live in places where they have access to markets and services in the same way that local communities do. Providing refugees with cash, by way of a secure biometric system, enables them to make decisions about their personal needs. This also helps prevent refugees being forced into desperate measures such as undertaking dangerous journeys, taking children out of school or survival sex. Cash assistance also helps refugees to support the local economy, aiding social integration.
UNHCR uses cash-based interventions to provide relief and assistance to the most vulnerable displaced Iraqis. Cash and vouchers help families prioritise their own needs in areas like food, water, healthcare and shelter, and allow them to build and support their livelihoods.
Education
Supplies
Shelter
Food
Protection
Medicine
Cash Assistance
