Finland supports WFP’s assistance work in Iraq | national

Sat, 21 Jun, 2014 02:30:30 AM

Finland supports WFP’s assistance work in Iraq

FTimes Report, June 21

A displaced Iraqi woman washes the hair of a toddler outside their tent at a temporary camp set up to shelter civilians fleeing violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province in Aski kalak, 40 kms west of the Kurdish autonomous region's capital Arbil, on June 13, 2014. Thousands of people who fled Iraq's second city of Mosul after it was overrun by jihadists have been queuing in the blistering heat, hoping to enter the safety of the nearby Kurdish region and furious at Baghdad's failure to help them. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva.

Finland supported the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) assistance in Iraq by donating EUR 500,000, said an official press release, adding that the assistance is directed to displaced people in Iraq.

Some 500,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, becoming displaced, after Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul fell to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) organisation.

The number of displaced people in Iraq is predicted to grow. WFP has responded to the needs of the displaced people and will further enhance its work to be able to provide sufficient amount of food to those displaced in the country.

The aid will be taken from Finland’s appropriations for humanitarian assistance included in development co-operation funding.

Finland Times