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UNHCR’s DAFI Scholarship Paves the Way for Refugees to Thrive in Iraq
Aya, Nihad, and Taha are transforming their futures in Iraq with UNHCR’s DAFI Scholarship.
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Transforming lives through music for refugees in Iraq
Nidal Hussian plays the tanboura, a traditional string instrument, at the same community center in Domiz one camp where he once found healing as a student. Now a teacher, he uses music to inspire others.
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Language classes open doors for refugee teachers
Dalia’s journey to becoming a teacher in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) was not easy. The transition to a new country brought challenges, but it also showed Dalia’s strong spirit and commitment to her profession.
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Civil documentation empowers Iraqi father for his children’s future
In 2014, Azhar and his family had fled Fallujah, seeking safety in Baghdad. Since then, they’d been tangled in a bureaucratic web, struggling to secure official documents for their children.
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Refugee volunteer leads the change around mental health in her community
As a Syrian refugee, Narmine is no stranger to mental health challenges and aims to break the stigma around mental health.
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UNHCR globally
UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (or the UN Refugee Agency), is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights, and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people.
We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war, or disaster at home.
Since 1950, we have faced multiple crises on multiple continents and provided vital assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced, returnees, and stateless people, many of whom have nobody left to turn to.
UNHCR in Iraq
The overall situation in Iraq has improved significantly since the conclusion of large-scale military operations against Da’esh in 2017. However, the security situation remains volatile and the economic situation fragile. The country generously hosts over 315,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly Kurdish Syrians (over 280,000), the majority of whom live in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I).
Iraq also has over 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), of whom some 115,000 live in 21 IDP camps in the KR-I as of end June 2024. IDPs report insecurity, limited access to public services, such as education, health or even water and electricity, lack of livelihood opportunities and financial resources, combined with damaged housing in areas of origin and, for some of them, Sunni Arabs in particular, perceived affiliation with extremist groups as the main barriers to return.
UNHCR Iraq 2022-2024 strategy
UNHCR’ s 2022-2024 strategy focuses on enhancing the protection environment and ensuring refugees, IDPs, IDP returnees, and stateless people, as well as particularly vulnerable host community members, have increased opportunities for comprehensive solutions. Strategically UNHCR would like to see, by 2024, forcibly displaced and stateless people in Iraq better protected and have more equitable and inclusive access to quality basic services and rights. In line with the humanitarian community’ s transition efforts to sustainable development, UNHCR will aim to enhance displaced populations’ self-reliance and socio-economic inclusion in public systems and development programmes. With this objective, UNHCR will support public institutions to deliver accessible and quality basic services to all populations affected by forced displacement and vulnerable host communities.
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Find information and services for refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced persons.
SPECIAL THANKS TO DONORS
UNHCR thanks its major donors of un-earmarked and broadly earmarked funds, as well as those who recently contributed directly to UNHCR’s programmes in Iraq.