IRAQ: IDPs in tent camps continue to suffer - IOM

BAGHDAD, 17 August 2008 (IRIN) - While the rate of people fleeing their homes in Iraq has decreased during the first half of 2008, daily life for the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in tent camps remains grim, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in an assessment issued on 15 August. "Tent camp residents have little or no access to basic services, cannot protect themselves against the elements or extreme weather, and are located far away from medical care, education and other services," the IOM statement said. "These harsh conditions, combined with a cultural aversion to living without familial privacy and personal dignity, make tent camps a last resort for Iraqi IDPs." The assessment, which was carried out in conjunction with Iraq's Ministry for Displacement and Migration and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, also said that although the number of IDPs living in tent camps remained very low compared to the overall number of IDPs nationwide - some 2.8 million – they were often the most vulnerable and in constant need of humanitarian assistance. Unbearable camp conditions IOM, the 125-nation migration body, described the miserable conditions in Iraq’s largest IDP camp, al-Manathira, which is 20km south of Najaf (about 160km south of the capital, Baghdad) and home to 231 families (about 1,400 individuals). It said "families who were evicted from public buildings live in cramped tents and caravans with limited sanitation and drinking water”. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79857