UNHCR collaborates with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government, UN agencies, international and national NGOs, community-based organizations, refugees, IDPs and local communities to protect, assist and find durable solutions for refugees and IDPs.
Goverment Partners
As part of UNHCR’s shift to sustainable development approaches where the Government of Iraq leads the IDP and refugee response, UNHCR collaborates with multiple Federal and Kurdistan Regional government entities:
The Government of Iraq
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs – for protocol arrangements and facilitating official written communication with line ministries.
- The Ministry of Interior – to register Syrian refugees and asylum seekers and grant them residency cards. To provide civil documentation to IDPs, IDP returnees and other vulnerable Iraqis; as well as to Iraqi returnees from Al-Hol camp in north-east Syria. To eliminate statelessness in Iraq. And to develop a new refugee law aligned with international standards.
- The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs – to ensure the inclusion of IDPs, particularly those in camps, in the Ministry’s poverty alleviation programme; the Social Safety Net.
- The Ministry of Migration and Displacement – to support IDP camp management, and Palestinian refugees.
- The Ministry of Planning – to include refugees and asylum seekers in Iraq’s next general census.
- The Ministry of Education – to ensure Syrian refugee and asylum seeker children have access to schools in Iraq’s Centre and South irrespective of their documentation.
The Kurdistan Regional Government
- The Ministry of Interior – development of Administrative Instruction on regulating the affairs of Asylum Seekers. Issuance of humanitarian residency permits for refugees and asylum seekers in KRI. UNHCR also advocates with the MOI on cross cutting protection issues as well as grant refugees and asylum seekers access to its KRI.
- Joint Crisis Coordination Center – Coordination on overall operational aspect of displacement in KRI/collaborate on IDP and refugee camp management.
- The Ministry of Education – for the implementation of the Refugee Education Integration policy.
- The Ministry of Health – to strengthen refugee inclusion into the public health system.
- The Ministry of Municipalities – for the ultimate expansion of municipal services to refugee camps.
- The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs – to promote the inclusion of refugees in the Kurdistan Region’s Social Safety Net.
- Department of Foreign Relations – for protocol arrangements.
Donors
UNHCR is grateful for the critical support provided by governmental and private sector donors who contribute to its operation in Iraq, as well as those who have contributed to UNHCR programs with unearmarked and broadly earmarked funds.
Funding for UNHCR in Iraq peaked in 2014 in support of the humanitarian response to the overwhelming needs created by Da’esh’s insurgency. Six years after the defeat of Da’esh, the humanitarian situation in Iraq has improved considerably, with a notable decline in the number of people requiring assistance. Against this background, and with the emergence of crises in other countries with more acute needs, funding for UNHCR in Iraq has been on a declining trajectory, with donor contributions dropping from over USD 280 million in 2014 to USD 58 Million in 2023 (an almost 80 per cent decrease).
In 2024, UNHCR requires USD 203.6 million to implement critical activities in Iraq, including legal protection, access to civil documentation, registration, education, health, multi-purpose cash assistance, and child protection. As of March 2024, UNHCR only received 15 per cent of its funding needs for Iraq.
International and civil society
UNHCR in Iraq works with 21 implementing partners: five government entities, seven international NGOs and nine national NGOs. As part of UNHCR’s overall shift to empowering national and local humanitarian action, referred to as ‘the localization agenda’, and in line with Grand Bargain commitments to provide 25 per cent of global humanitarian funding to local and national responders, UNHCR’s partnerships with national NGOs increased from seven in 2022 to nine in 2023, while partnerships with international actors decreased from 15 in 2020 to seven in 2023. Moreover, over 50 per cent of UNHCR’s implementing partner budget is allocated to national partners, government and NGOs.