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STORY: GENEVA / IRAQ WRAP
TRT: 3.00
SOURCE: UNTV CH / UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 8 AUGUST 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / 7 AUGUST 2014, NEW YORK CITY
8 AUGUST 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior of Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Lom, Spokesperson, International Organization for Migration: “IOM has identified some 176,150 families, so that’s roughly 1, 056,000 individuals in 1,381 locations throughout Iraq who are displaced. Now, over 54% of those people, some 94,000 families of that total, became displaced after June of this year.”
4. Mid shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Elisabeth Byrs, Spokesperson, World Food Programme:
“Many of the families who fled violence in Nineveh’s Sinjar region in recent weeks are in urgent need of water, food and shelter. You know that there are very high temperatures; it’s very difficult to live in this type of condition. People are looking for water and food and WFP is very concerned.”
6. Close up of journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Elisabeth Byrs, Spokesperson, World Food Programme:
“As a response to the rising numbers of people fleeing Sinjar, WFP has set up three emergency field kitchens in Dohuk in partnership with the local Barazani charity foundation, and WFP will establish additional ones in coming days. The kitchens have enabled WFP to assist around 75,000 individuals who have fled Sinjar since August 4th.”
8. Close-up, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“Widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic background, religion or belief may constitute a crime against humanity. All parties, including ISIL and associated armed groups, must abide by international humanitarian law, including the obligation to protect the civilian population.”
7 AUGUST 2014, NEW YORK CITY
10. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
11. Zoom in, Grant walking to the stakeout
12. Close up, camera
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“In terms of the substantive response the immediate need is humanitarian and practical support for Iraq’s efforts including the airdrops. There was also view that there needed to be action on political dynamics because of the need to form the government in Baghdad as soon as possible and also wider efforts to confront the threat posed by ISIL to Iraq and to the region.”
14. Close up, camera
15. Zoom out, Grant walking out
United Nations (UN) aid agencies and partners are deeply alarmed by the situation in northern Iraq and in particular the situation of vulnerable minority groups, including the Yezidi, Christian and Turkomen communities.
Briefing journalists today (8 Aug) in Geneva, the spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration said that, throughout the rest of Iraq, it has identified 176,150 families, roughly 1, 056,000 individuals in 1,381 locations, who are displaced. Fifty four per cent of those people, some 94,000 families, have become displaced since June of this year.
The UN food agency WFP said that many of the families who fled violence in Nineveh’s Sinjar region in recent weeks are in “ urgent need of water, food and shelter.”
In response to rising number of displaced, the WFP has set up three emergency field kitchens in Dohuk in partnership with the local Barazani charity foundation assisting around 75,000 individuals who have fled Sinjar since August 4th.
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), says that there is grave concern for the physical safety and the humanitarian situation of the large number of civilians trapped in areas under the control of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or in other areas affected by the violence.
She says that ‘widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic background, religion or belief may constitute a crime against humanity.’
OHCHR has called on all parties, including ISIL and associated armed groups, to abide by international humanitarian law, including the obligation to protect the civilian population. It has also called on the international community and the governments of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of civilians, in particular those belonging to vulnerable communities.
Day before, the Security Council had issued a press statement on situation in Iraq condemning the attacks by ISIL and again expressed its “deep outrage” about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis — many of them from vulnerable minority communities, especially Yezidis and Christians — displaced by ISIL’s attacks and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
The Security Council president, the British ambassador to the UN Lyall Grant said to journalists that
