Johanniter in Iraq

Needs and Context

Iraq’s recent history has been beset by conflict and displacement. Following the US-led Coalition’s invasion in 2003, Iraq faced increasing state-breakdown and internal division, culminating in the 2006-8 civil war involving significant sectarian violence. This period also led to the rise of Al Qaeda in Iraq and a wave of attacks against sectarian and western targets. US-led military operations ended in 2011 but new social and political structures remained weak and fragile.

In 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) emerged, seizing swaths of land in western Iraq and eastern Syria and declaring a new Islamic caliphate. IS targeted and persecuted minorities including Yezidis, Christians and Shia Muslims, including the massacre of Yezidis in Sinjar in August 2014. A new coalition was formed to fight Islamic State, which retook the city of Mosul in 2017. Iraq also hosts nearly 260,000 Syrian refugees, the vast majority of whom are based in the Kurdistan Region. 

The ensuing conflict and displacement led to a large humanitarian response, which peaked in 2016-18. This UN-led humanitarian response has since been phased out in favour of transitional, longer-term development initiatives focused on the needs of IDPs, refugees and other vulnerable populations. The political and social situation in the country remains fragile. In addition, natural resource management and the climate crisis are key issues affecting the country at large.

Its population continues to face limited service provision for medical and mental health services with high levels of trauma. 

Johanniter’s interventions in Iraq

In the moment there are no running Johanniter projects in Iraq. Since 2017, we have been working through partner organizations to help vulnerable groups access basic health services and to support the reintegration of some of the 4.9 million returnees displaced between 2014 and 2017. Around 961,000 people have acute needs, with closely interlinked barriers against attaining stability in their lives due to the consecutives wars. 

In 2021 Johanniter International Assistance supported the Jiyan Foundation on "Strengthening Support Systems Infrastructure and Resilience of Vulnerable People in Baghdad " aiming to support mental health, psychosocial, and legal support to vulnerable populations in Baghdad, including host community members, people with disabilities, returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).