OCHA commends Kuwait for its support to Iraqis in need

(Geneva 22 July 2014): The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today thanked the State of Kuwait for its swift disbursement of US$9.5 million to UN humanitarian agencies and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) responding to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.

The generous donation was allocated to the UN refugee agency UNHCR ($3 million), the UN’s children’s fund UNICEF ($2 million), World Food Programme ($2 million), World Health Organisation ($1.5 million) and the International Organization for Migration ($1 million).

“Kuwait has again shown its generosity towards people in desperate need of basic life-saving and life-sustaining relief and demonstrated a firm commitment to play a central role in international humanitarian affairs,” said Rashid Khalikov, OCHA Director in Geneva.

The funds will go towards helping Iraqis in need of water, food, shelter, healthcare, sanitation and household items. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced in central and northern Iraq since January and additional displacement occurs daily. Access to basic services in areas controlled by armed groups is deteriorating and humanitarian organisations have urgently been scaling up assistance to provide more assistance.

For further information, please call: Jens Laerke, OCHA Geneva, laerke@un.org , Tel.: +41 22 917 11 42, Cell: +41 79 472 9750 OCHA press releases are available at www.unocha.org or www.reliefweb.int