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Facing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, aid agencies step up relief plans
2003-069-4
3/28/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
International church-related relief agencies are warning that the US-led war in Iraq may exacerbate a long-standing humanitarian crisis in the region.
The human toll of Iraq's recent history--international sanctions, the effects of the 1991 Gulf War and a protracted war between Iraq and Iran in the early 1980s--have 'hardly penetrated the long noisy months of political and military news,' said Jonathan Frerichs, a spokesperson for Lutheran World Relief (LWR), based in Baltimore, Maryland. LWR is a member of a coalition of US church groups and agencies taking part in a joint effort entitled 'All Our Children' to raise funds for ongoing medical needs for Iraqi children.
At least 500,000 Iraqi children have died in recent years because of the continuing humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations and humanitarian groups. US church groups are also supporting efforts by the Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, a Geneva-based global alliance of churches and relief agencies.
ACT recently issued a warning that the military action could aggravate the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and affect neighboring countries such as Jordan, Syria, Iran, Turkey and Lebanon, where displaced persons will most likely seek refuge. 'Extensive human suffering is an inevitable and predictable consequence of military action,' ACT noted.
ACT is responding by coordinating efforts by the Middle East Council of Churches, UK-based Christian Aid, Norwegian Church Aid, the Lutheran World Federation and the Dutch-based Inter Church Organization for Development Cooperation/Kerkinactie.
Relief agencies affiliated with the major US mainstream Protestant denominations also have long-standing contacts with Christian churches in the Middle East. 'Helping the people of Iraq, especially now, is something that congregations or groups within parishes across the US are ready for and are beginning to support,' said Frerichs.
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