Group says life not improving for tent camp Iraqis

Original Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/15/international/i063344D89.DTL

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer

The world's migration body said Friday that daily life has improved little for thousands of Iraqis living in tent camps, despite a slowdown in the number of people in Iraq being uprooted.

While most displaced Iraqis rent housing, live with relatives or squat in public buildings, less fortunate tent camp residents have no protection against extreme weather and poor access to medical care, education and other basic services.

In a new assessment, the International Organization for Migration found that those living in tent camps are "often the most vulnerable among a displaced population" of some 2.8 million in Iraq, said spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy.

He estimated their total number at a "few thousand," and said they were in "constant need of humanitarian assistance."

The 125-nation IOM is assisting displaced Iraqis with emergency food, water and household supplies, but overall help for those in tent camps remains inadequate, Chauzy said.

He described conditions in the al-Manathera camp in Najaf, the largest in Iraq, where "families who were evicted from public buildings live in cramped tents and caravans" with limited sanitation and drinking water.

A lack of family privacy — highly valued in Iraqi culture — combined with unemployment and overcrowding has caused "significant tensions" among the inhabitants, he said.

In the Qalawa camp in Sulaymaniyah, a group of displaced Iraqis that settled on a piece of open land two years ago still have no sanitation, electricity or toilets, Chauzy said.

They "live surrounded by garbage," he said. "As a result, cases of typhoid have recently been reported."