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Exclusive: UN says poverty in Kurdistan region has doubled
Saturday, 08 August, 2015
NEW YORK – The numbers are shocking. In less than one year, the poverty rate in the Iraqi Kurdistan region more than doubled, increasing from 3.8 percent to 8.1 percent.
This is one of the findings of an internal UN report, “Strategic Assessment Mission to Iraq”, which Rudaw was able to obtain an exclusive of.
“The poverty rate in the Kurdistan Region alone has increased from 3.8 percent to 8.1 percent in 2014 and the region is in need of $1.4 billion in 2015 in additional spending for stabilization beyond its budget,” reads the UN report.
The report was prepared by a group of UN officials that were deployed to Iraq by the UN Secretary General from April 21-29 in an attempt to asses the political and humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.
The findings are meant to help the UN Secretary General and the 15 member-states of the Security Council to make a decisions about the world body’s presence in Iraq.
Last month, the Security Council extended the UN mandate in Iraq without changing the nature of the UN’s mainly humanitarian role.
The Strategic Assessment Report, however, indicates the UN might be considering a smaller role in Iraq. One of the recommendations in the report says, “changes to UN mandate in Iraq and any resulting changes in the UN presence on the ground should be done gradually and in a manner which will not give the impression that the UN is ‘pulling out’.”
In a response to Rudaw question about the possibility of a drastic decrease of the UN presence, a UN spokesperson said:
“The cutback had to do with the shortfall of the funding on the humanitarian aide, funds that we need to provide support to refugees and to internationally displaced people. That is the money we rely on to continually fund the appeals that we put out.”
The spokesman added: “But the political mission that is UNAMI in Iraq is fully funded.”
Some information in the report was already published by other agencies, including the fact that Iraq ranks 170 out of 175 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (2014), making Iraq one of the most graft-ridden countries in the world.
Among other findings, the report shows a number of minority representative distrust the Kurdish authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan.
“A number of of minority representatives were vocal in their condemnation of attempts to ‘Kurdify’ their communities through demographic changes on the ground in recently re-taken areas,” read the UN report.
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Saturday, 08 August, 2015
NEW YORK – The numbers are shocking. In less than one year, the poverty rate in the Iraqi Kurdistan region more than doubled, increasing from 3.8 percent to 8.1 percent.
This is one of the findings of an internal UN report, “Strategic Assessment Mission to Iraq”, which Rudaw was able to obtain an exclusive of.
“The poverty rate in the Kurdistan Region alone has increased from 3.8 percent to 8.1 percent in 2014 and the region is in need of $1.4 billion in 2015 in additional spending for stabilization beyond its budget,” reads the UN report.
The report was prepared by a group of UN officials that were deployed to Iraq by the UN Secretary General from April 21-29 in an attempt to asses the political and humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.
The findings are meant to help the UN Secretary General and the 15 member-states of the Security Council to make a decisions about the world body’s presence in Iraq.
Last month, the Security Council extended the UN mandate in Iraq without changing the nature of the UN’s mainly humanitarian role.
The Strategic Assessment Report, however, indicates the UN might be considering a smaller role in Iraq. One of the recommendations in the report says, “changes to UN mandate in Iraq and any resulting changes in the UN presence on the ground should be done gradually and in a manner which will not give the impression that the UN is ‘pulling out’.”
In a response to Rudaw question about the possibility of a drastic decrease of the UN presence, a UN spokesperson said:
“The cutback had to do with the shortfall of the funding on the humanitarian aide, funds that we need to provide support to refugees and to internationally displaced people. That is the money we rely on to continually fund the appeals that we put out.”
The spokesman added: “But the political mission that is UNAMI in Iraq is fully funded.”
Some information in the report was already published by other agencies, including the fact that Iraq ranks 170 out of 175 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (2014), making Iraq one of the most graft-ridden countries in the world.
Among other findings, the report shows a number of minority representative distrust the Kurdish authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan.
“A number of of minority representatives were vocal in their condemnation of attempts to ‘Kurdify’ their communities through demographic changes on the ground in recently re-taken areas,” read the UN report.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
