UNHCR doubles aid appeal for Iraq, 2,000 flee daily

GENEVA, July 12 (Reuters) The United Nations refugee agency today doubled its funding appeal for Iraq this year to 123 million dollars, saying humanitarian needs continued to mushroom as an estimated 2,000 people flee violence each day.

Most of the revised appeal, up from 60 million dollars in January, will be used to provide shelter, food, health care, education and other emergency services to Iraqis who cross into neighbouring countries.

Syria and Jordan are already struggling to host 2 million Iraqis who fled before and since the 2003 US-led invasion, while another 2 million people are uprooted within Iraq, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

''Massive displacement of Iraqis externally and internally continues unabated, causing a great deal of suffering and uncertainty,'' Radhouane Nouicer, director of UNHCR's West Asia and North Africa bureau, told a news briefing.

The agency had received 67 million dollars towards its initial appeal, including 17 million dollars from the United States, and was seeking more from both new and traditional donors.

The United States today announced an additional donation of 19 million dollars.

''At least one Iraqi in seven is displaced and UNHCR estimates the number of those newly displaced at 2,000 per day,'' the UNHCR said in an appeal document sent to donors.

''Thousands of Iraqis approaching UNHCR are the victims of torture, sexual and gender-based violence, car bombings, or other violent attacks and are in urgent need of medical care.'' Many Iraqi children had been out of school for two to three years, raising the prospect of ''potential emergence of a generation of uneducated Iraqi youth'', the UNHCR warned.

As part of its protection strategy, the UNHCR has set a target of resettling 20,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees to third countries this year.

Reuters AM VV2326