U.N. seeks aid for 4 million uprooted Iraqis

[NNN0LHI]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUK117681361839._CH_.242020070417

GENEVA, April 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations' refugee agency on Tuesday appealed for international aid for nearly 4 million Iraqis driven from their homes by conflict, and for those sheltering them inside and outside Iraq.

About 2 million Iraqis have fled to Syria and Jordan, whose governments are struggling "without any meaningful support from outside," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said at the start of a two-day international conference.

Another 1.9 million Iraqis are uprooted within their homeland, racked by insurgency and sectarian violence.

"It is time that the international community responded with genuine solidarity and unstinting aid to displaced Iraqis and to the states housing them," Guterres said.

His agency, UNHCR, says up to 50,000 Iraqis flee their homes each month in an exodus linked to pervasive violence, poor basic services, loss of jobs and an uncertain future.

[Kurovski]

1. Kick. (nt)

[NNN0LHI]

2. Definition of genocide in its original adoption for international law at the Geneva Conventions:

Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.