GENEVA, Switzerland, April 10 (UPI) -- The number of displaced persons in Iraq has risen to the point where the United Nations wants to hold a crisis meeting.
"Spiraling levels of sectarian, political and criminal violence, dwindling basic services, loss of livelihood, inflation and uncertainty about the future have all contributed to an exodus now estimated at 40,000 to 50,000 a month fleeing their homes inside Iraq," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters Tuesday.
The U.N. refugee agency will hold a conference in Geneva to address humanitarian needs of the nearly 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced. Since the beginning of last year some 730,000 Iraqis have been displaced by sectarian violence, and more are fleeing their homes daily, UNHCR said.
"Although the world is aware of the military and political situation in Iraq, the immense and growing humanitarian needs are not well-known," said Redmond. "The idea of next week's conference is to alert the international community to the humanitarian dimensions of the displacement crisis in and around Iraq."
Several governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations will participate in the meeting, to be held April 17-18 and chaired by U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.
Redmond said the international community must focus on the approximately 2 million Iraqis now in neighboring countries and the estimated 1.9 million Iraqis who remain displaced inside their own country.
