IRAQ / SINJAR DISPLACED

Another wave of displacement has hitIraqfollowing the seizure of three northern communities from government control. Officials inIraq’sKurdistan region report that since Sunday, as many as 190 thousand people have crossed into the region with thousands more expected to arrive in the coming days. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:20
• Production Date: 7 August 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: IRAQ
• MAMS Id: 1146177

Description

STORY: IRAQ / SINJAR DISPLACED
TRT: 2.20
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC /NATS

DATELINE: 7 AUGUST 2014, DUHOK, IRAQ

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, school
2. Various shots, people in school yard
3. Various shots, displaced Iraqis inside school hall where they sleep
4. Med shot, Fani talking to her family
5. Close up, two of Fani’s children
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fani, Displaced Iraqi (Arabic):
“We had a house, big, beautiful house, good place to stay. We left behind our chicken and sheep in the farm, all is gone, we have nothing now.”
7. Wide shot, Fani and her family sitting
8. Various shots, Fani’s children
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fani, Displaced Iraqi (Arabic):
“Tens of families with children and babies are staying in those mountains, very small children. I swear they told us it’s been four days, they had nothing to eat, they are eating wheat from the field. Just bring them back, we need nothing here, for god’s sake just bring them back we need no assistance, we don’t care if we die here, as long as they are safe.”
10. Various shots, old men sitting down in the school yard
11. Wide shot, outdoor cooking site
12. Various shots, cooked chicken being taken out the oven and packed for delivery

Storyline

Here, they are cooking 21 hours a day to make sure thousands in need are fed.

Overnight, the population of this small town in Northern Iraq swelled.
The local hosts are doing all they can to ensure the new arrivals have food.

Meals are provided three times a day, feeding the 3,000 people who fled the fighting in Sinjar, (175 kilometers and a world away), 350 of them are now living in this school.

Fani, a mother of 16, fled Sinjar, fearing for their lives. But safety comes at high price.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fani, Displaced Iraqi:
“We had a house, big, beautiful house, good place to stay. We left behind our chicken and sheep in the farm, all is gone, we have nothing now.”

In the chaos of last Sunday, families were separated. Some fled to safety, while tens of thousands of others are stranded in the mountains near Sinjar with no access to food or water.

Fani’s daughter and her family are among them. Their only contact is by mobile phone.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic)Fani, Displaced Iraqi:
“Tens of families with children and babies are staying in those mountains, very small children. I swear they told us it’s been four days, they had nothing to eat, they are eating wheat from the field. Just bring them back, we need nothing here, for God’s sake just bring them back we need no assistance, we don’t care if we die here, as long as they are safe.”

Fani is judt one of the 190,000 Iraqis from the Yazidi minority who have crossed into Iraq’s Northern Region of Kurdistan since Sunday, fleeing the fighting in their home villages.

SOUDNBITE (aRABIC)Fani, Displaced Iraqi:
“My family has no income, no salary nothing, all we have is the farm and whatever is planted in the farm is taken by gunmen, they were threatened by militants and told to leave the farm.”

The global community is stepping up -Saudi Arabia recently donated (USD) 500 million dollars to help the more than 1.2 million Iraqis displaced since January.
This will provide essential assistance, including shelter and emergency aid.