International Committee of the Red Cross Activities in Iraq
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Present in Iraq since the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) focuses on meeting humanitarian needs arising from two wars over the past 20 years, and more than a decade of international trade sanctions. Since mid-1999, the ICRC has given priority to assistance projects, which address the worsening plight of the Iraqi civilian population, especially in the field of public health. In northern Iraq the ICRC visits persons detained in connection with the conflict between Kurdish groups.
The ICRC - on the basis of its mandate under international humanitarian law - continues to follow up on unresolved humanitarian problems remaining from the conflicts of the past two decades.
In the first half of 2002 the International Committee of the Red Cross:
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continued to try to determine the fate of people unaccounted for from the 1990-91 war
- visited almost 500 detainees in 23 different places of detention in northern Iraq
- issued 166 travel documents and 984 certificates of detention for persons without identification papers to facilitate their resettlement
The ICRC-supported orthopaedic centre at Arbil
- collected 2,370 and distributed 2,519 Red Cross messages to help civilians and detainees restore contact with their relatives
- supervised the repatriation of 507 Iraqi POWs captured during the Iran-Iraq conflict, as well as the repatriation of 188 Iraqi servicemen detained in Iran since 1991
- distributed essential surgical supplies to hospitals in northern and southern Iraq, and maintained emergency stocks in Baghdad and other locations
- conducted assessment, rehabilitation and maintenance work on 16 water- and six sewage-treatment plants and pumping stations to benefit more than one million people
- completed rehabilitation of three primary health care centres
- provided pre-natal, maternal and childcare education in two hospitals and eight ICRC-rehabilitated primary health care centres
- fitted 830 people with artificial limbs and joints at six centres where the ICRC continues to provide technical and training support; supported two similar workshops in northern Iraq in a delegated project with the Norwegian Red Cross
Entire towns and villages now enjoy safe water, thanks to ICRC rehabililation work
- prepared an awareness programme in southern Iraq to warn of the dangers from unexploded remnants of war
- organized seminars on international humanitarian law (IHL) for military officers and legal advisers of leading Kurdish political factions in northern Iraq.
For more information visit the ICRC's website.
If you would like to support the Red Cross/Red Crescent humanitarian efforts in Iraq, please donate to our Iraq Humanitarian Assistance appeal.
