International Medical Corps Executive Testifies Before Congress; Repeats Call for Humanitarian Surge in Iraq

WASHINGTON, DC — A senior International Medical Corps executive testifying before a congressional panel has warned that conditions for Iraq’s 2.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were now desperate and only an immediate increase in humanitarian assistance could avert greater suffering.

“Failure to increase our efforts to alleviate this suffering would not just be morally irresponsible; it would be politically counterproductive,” International Medical Corps’ Vice President of International Operations Rabih Torbay told members of two subcommittees of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at a May 1st hearing.

Torbay, who shares responsibility for oversight and operations of International Medical Corps’ programs in Iraq and just recently returned from a ten-day trip to Baghdad, repeated a call IMC first made last November for a “humanitarian surge”, telling the hearing that, “now, six months later, the need for such a surge has only intensified”.

He noted that the $254 million so far given for all relief aid and services in Iraq over the past five years would fund less than 48 hours of US military spending in the country.

The congressional hearing, that included members of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, was called to shed more light on the current conditions of those Iraqi civilians forced to flee their homes amid the turmoil of sectarian warfare and a virulent insurgency. In addition to those displaced inside Iraq, more than 2 million Iraqis have left the country for refuge, mainly in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, where International Medical Corps also works.

Taken together, the number of Iraqi IDPs and refugees constitute one of the world’s largest single populations uprooted by armed conflict. International Medical Corps is one of a very few international non-government organizations that has worked on the ground in Iraq delivering aid continuously since early 2003, in all of the country’s 18 governorates.

“There has been considerable focus over the past five years on rebuilding Iraq’s physical infrastructure, but now it is time to focus on humanitarian needs and on rebuilding the country’s human capital,” Torbay added.

Torbay cited Iraqi government statistics that showed 82% of the country’s IDPs are women or children, over 80% do not have jobs and many lack the very basics of life, including shelter, health care, education, electricity, water, and sanitation.

Representative Bill Delahunt (D-Mass), who chairs the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, said he embraced Torbay’s proposal for a humanitarian surge, describing the idea as, “very timely”.

Torbay recommended an immediate increase in the funding for the United States Agency of International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), which he called the most effective donor agency in dealing with the needs of Iraq’s displaced. He also:
• urged international humanitarian aid and development groups to work more closely with relevant Iraqi government ministries to share know-how, build their capacity and challenge them to better help their own people;
• recommended greater coordination between the many different donor arms of the US Government and more flexibility in the types of activities they would support in order to close the gap between emergency relief and longer term development.

“The needs of Iraq’s displaced do not easily fit into tightly defined boxes,” he said.

While there were differences among members of the panel, mainly along party lines, about the pace of resettling Iraqi refugees in the United States, both Republicans and Democrats agreed it was critical to address the humanitarian needs of IDPs and refugees and that efforts should be made for the Iraqi government to tap its large budget surplus to begin financing some its people’s critical needs, both in Iraq and in the region.

Delahunt and Chairman of the Middle East & South Asia Subcommittee, Gary L. Ackerman, (D-NY), argued that it was also in America’s interest to help the displaced.

“This isn’t just about altruism and doing the right thing,” Delahunt said. “This is about the security of the United States. We’re creating conditions for more terrorists to emerge, who will then threaten us in the United States.”

Florida Democratic Alcee Hastings singled out the NGOs working with Iraqi refugees and IDPs for special thanks.

“(You) are truly the lifeline to those men, women and children that are suffering,” he said.

Torbay concluded his testimony with a call for broad congressional support to achieve “a new level of humanitarian and development assistance to show America’s commitment to alleviate suffering, foster self-reliance and strengthen Iraq’s will and its ability to meet the needs of all its citizens.”

Read the full testimony