Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to enlist the help of churches, religious institutions and communities in the provision of aid and support to those individuals in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq who have fled their homes to escape Daesh.

Faith-based organisations in Iraq are able to access UK funding through the UN-managed Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund, to which the UK is the largest donor. UK officials have met with faith-based organisations to discuss the humanitarian situation and to provide guidance on how to access the fund. UK Officials in the Kurdistan region are in regular contact with the Christian, Yezidi, and Muslim community leaders, and have participated in a Religious Dialogue Conference where all religions of the Kurdistan region were represented. All UK-funded humanitarian aid in the Kurdistan Region is distributed on the basis of need, irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity.