Iraq: Iraq: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (September 2019)
In September 2019, humanitarian partners reported 44 access incidents across 13 districts. More than 56 per cent of incidents took place within the Governorate of Ninewa. Approximately 81 per cent of reported access incidents constituted administrative restrictions on humanitarian activities and movements in the Governorates of Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah al-Din.
The number of access-related incidents and reports captured in this snapshot does not fully reflect the extent of bureaucratic impediments faced by humanitarian partners. In Ninewa, NGOs are unable to conduct activities without obtaining a separate ‘facilitation’ letter from the local authorities, which are conditioned on the submission of activity progress reports by location, as well as the registration of NGOs at the local levels. These additional demands have become so pervasive that many organizations are no longer reporting them.
Also in September, the Humanitarian Access Working Group (AWG) finalized and submitted the 2019 Humanitarian Access Strategy to the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) for review and endorsement. The document was endorsed by the HCT in early October 2019.
To improve the accuracy of the representation of access challenges in Iraq, humanitarian organizations are encouraged to report all incident details to OCHA Sub-offices.
