Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what aid and support is being provided by her Department to unaccompanied children resident in the internally displaced camps of Iraq.

Children in Iraq have been disproportionately impacted by four years of Daesh control. DFID is working with UNICEF to provide specialist child protection services, tailored to the individual needs of 12,000 of the most vulnerable children, including in IDP camps. This specialised programme provides psychosocial support, counselling, legal representation, as well as wider protection services to the children who need them most.

Furthermore, DFID is one of the largest donors to the UN’s Iraq Humanitarian Fund (IHF), having committed over £74m since 2014. The IHF is the primary mechanism through which the international community has responded to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq since 2014. It provides multi-sector support for girls and boys through the provision of education, protection, education, and healthcare services to hundreds of thousands of children each year.

DFID humanitarian experts maintain a close dialogue with all humanitarian stakeholders in Iraq and we remain committed to advocating for the needs of children displaced by the conflict, including those who are unaccompanied.