More than half of Mosul displaced will be children - UNICEF

Record ID: 84158

  • Title: More than half of Mosul displaced will be children - UNICEF
  • Date: 23rd October 2016
  • Summary: ERBIL, IRAQ (OCTOBER 23, 2016) (REUTERS) TENTS IN THE DEBAGA CAMP FOR DISPLACED PEOPLE, 40 KM SOUTH OF ERBIL PEOPLE WALKING IN A MAIN STREET IN THE CAMP VARIOUS OF UNICEF MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL MANAGER, GEERT CAPPELAERE, TOURING THE CAMP DISPLACED PEOPLE IN THE CAMP VARIOUS CAPPELAERE SPEAKING TO CAMP RESIDENTS WOMEN AND CHILDREN LISTENING TO CAPPELAERE VARIOUS OF WOMEN STANDING AROUND LARGE WATER VATS VARIOUS OF GIRL WASHING HER HAIR VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS COLLECTING WATER GIRL WASHING HER HAIR UNDER TAP CAPPELAERE TALKING TO AID OFFICER (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL MANAGER, GEERT CAPPELAERE, SAYING: "The U.N. is estimating that between 1.2 to 1.5 million people may be affected by the current situation in Mosul. We as UNICEF estimate that at least 50 percent of these people will be children." CAPPELAERE SHAKING BOY'S HAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL MANAGER, GEERT CAPPELAERE, SAYING: "These children have been exposed for over two years to probably a lot of atrocities, extreme living conditions and we want to be there for them to provide them the psycho-social support, to provide them efforts that give them back a normal life as a child." CAPPELAERE PLAYING WITH CHILDREN VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE CAMP VARIOUS OF A BABY LYING IN MOTHER'S LAP CAMP RESIDENTS SITTING BY WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED WOMAN FROM HOWEIJA, SHAIMAA, SAYING: "They (Islamic State) do not put pressure on the women, only on the men. They put a lot of pressure on the men, they cannot go out. We were hungry, the situation there was not good." WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE CAMP VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN THE CAMP
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2016 14:38
  • Keywords: UNICEF Debaga Mosul Iraq refugees
  • Location: ERBIL, IRAQ
  • City: ERBIL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015585KQV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: At least half of the Iraqis expected to flee from Mosul during an offensive to recapture the city are likely to be children, UNICEF's Middle East regional director said on Sunday (October 23).
    Speaking during a visit to the Debaga refugee camp, 40 km south of Erbil, Geert Cappelaere said UNICEF was preparing to meet the influx of people fleeing and was particularly focused on helping the children.
    "These children have been exposed for over two years to probably a lot of atrocities, extreme living conditions and we want to be there for them to provide them the psycho-social support, to provide them efforts that give them back a normal life as a child," he said.
    The fighting around Mosul forced 5,640 people to flee their homes early last week, the International Organisation for Migration said on Thursday (October 20), most of them in the previous 24 hours.
    The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said people were also fleeing to the east from the west of the city after heavy air strikes and shelling in the west.
    Nine hundred families from Mosul district, or about 5,400 people, had been taken to a reception centre in the village of Al-Hood in Qayyarah, UNHCR said, while another 240 people from Hamdaniyah district, east of Mosul, had been transferred to the Debaga reception centre, it said.
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