Iraq's Displacement Crisis and the International Response

Publication Date: February 2008

Publisher: Center for American Progress

Author(s):

Research Area: Population and demographics

Type: Report

Coverage: Iraq

Abstract:

Violence in Iraq and the debate over continued U.S. engagement have overshadowed one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Since 2006, sectarian fighting, political and criminal violence, lack of basic services, loss of livelihoods, spiraling inflation and uncertainty about the future pushed more than four million Iraqis from their homes, and made another four million dependent on assistance. Neighboring countries, which accepted more than two million refugees, now impose harsher visa restrictions, creating a “pressure-cooker” situation.