Shelter Centre

The international communitys new preferred narrative about Iraq is that the violence has been greatly reduced; the U.S. is drawing down its military; the humanitarian situation has stabilized; and now it is up to the Iraqi Government, assisted by UN development actors, to rebuild the country.

While it is true that there is less violence in most parts of Iraq today than there was two years ago, the levels of targeted violence and civilian death remain much higher than before the U.S. invasion. This weeks bombing in Baghdad underscored what we all know: Iraq continues to have a security problem. This is also evidenced by the simple fact that international UN staff cannot access areas outside of the green zone without U.S. military escort. For all practical purposes, the UN today has no new access to the vulnerable communities they serve than they did in 2007. Iraqi NGOs themselves continue to work clandestinely. Last week five Iraqi aid workers were killed point blank in their offices.

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