Iraq

EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT FOR REFUGEE AND DISPLACED CHILDREN

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Mission Enfance has been working in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1992. Emergency aid and the reconstruction of schools and villages have given the association a real expertise in this region. Events have followed one another in this country, with extreme violence in recent years. Iraqi Kurdistan, which has welcomed nearly 2 million refugees and displaced persons, still has 600,000 (Kurds from Syria fleeing Turkish bombardments, Yezidis fleeing Daesh, as well as Arabs, Christians and Kurds who, traumatised, no longer want to live in Mosul). The situation in Iraq is still very fragile, with a steady increase in attacks from the Islamic State and Turkey. The displaced population is living in a climate of growing anxiety, which is hampering any return to their homeland. Compounding this climate of anxiety, the camps for displaced persons and refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan receive little or no support from the United Nations and international NGOs. Only the Kurdish regional authorities continue to manage life in the camps.

Goal

To educate displaced Yezidi, Kurdish and Arab children in Iraqi Kurdistan,
To provide education to Kurdish refugee children from Syria.

In this context, more than 12,000 pupils are waiting to be educated in decent conditions in Kurdish schools (there are currently 60 pupils per class). In July 2023, Mission Enfance inaugurated a school with 12 primary and intermediate classes in Itout, in the Governorate of Dohuk. 800 Kurdish and displaced pupils will be able to go back to school in decent conditions.

The Yezidis, who fear the political and terrorist situation in the Sinjar region, are staying in the Sharya camp for displaced persons. We are supporting our educational centre in Sharya, where 600 children aged 6 to 15 are learning English and IT, as well as sport, music and drawing, outside the classroom.

We will soon be setting up a similar educational centre in the Xanky camp for displaced Yezidi children.

Finally, we are continuing our support for the living quarters in Qaraqosh (Nineveh Plain) for the 30 Yezidi and Chaldean students at the University of Mossul.

RECENT PROJECTS :

● Construction of 6 schools with 12 primary and intermediate classes in the Sinjar region for 1,000 pupils, now all in operation,
● Construction of the Bardarash camp school (12 classes) for refugee children from Syria in 2021.

● Construction of the Itout primary and intermediate school for Kurdish and displaced children.