World Vision is working around the clock to pre-position supplies of food, clean water and hygiene kits as Iraq's military offensive to re-take Mosul from ISIL could forcibly displace up to a million people.
Children fleeing Mosul will need years of support to rebuild their lives, World Vision warns today. Child friendly spaces – safe places where children can find some normality in the chaos and receive psychosocial support – will be set up in camps where displaced people arrive. The horrific experience of fleeing the fighting in Mosul, and the past two years of ISIL control, will have taken a severe toll on children's physical and mental health, according to Canada's largest international aid agency.
HOW CANADIANS CAN HELP:
Canadians can make direct donations to World Vision Canada to support relief efforts in Mosul.
QUOTES:
"We're already supporting half a million people who fled Mosul when it was first occupied over two years ago. We're now poised for another massive influx of children and families who will have been through horrific experiences most of us could never imagine."
- Khalil Sleiman, World Vision's Response Manager for northern Iraq
"They will arrive with little else but the clothes on their back and will be thirsty, hungry, and may need urgent medical attention. The violence will also have taken a devastating emotional toll on children, many of whom will need years of support to rebuild their lives, come to terms with what happened, and to regain some kind of normality."
- Khalil Sleiman, World Vision's Response Manager for northern Iraq
"Children always bear the brunt of disasters, above all in armed conflicts. Canada should use its diplomatic influence to urge for the respect of civilians and their rights to access water, food, shelter, whether they stay or leave Mosul."
- Michael Messenger, President, World Vision Canada