UNICEF warns: Mosul attack could leave thousands of children homeless

Tens of thousands of children face being displaced and becoming homeless unless humanitarian contingency plans are put in place by the armies planning to seize back control of Daesh-held Mosul this winter, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) warned Sunday.

Unicef representative in Iraq Peter Hawkins estimated 1.7 million people will be directly affected by the expected attack on Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, the Guardian reported. 

"The prospect of being able to help hundreds of thousands of displaced people in a semi-arid area is limited, given the constraints on water, sanitation and shelter are extremely concerning," he added.

The UN's ability to interact with the city's occupiers has been close to non-existent for more than a year. Daesh is not speaking to the UN aid agencies, the paper said.

The UN relief appeal for 2016 is only 35% funded, Hawkins said, and so UNICEF itself is $100 million short of the $170m it needs to handle the displacements in Iraq.

"There has been no immunization in the city for two years, and education has been limited. Trade with Syria has largely been kept open and the fertile area along the Tigris has been accessible, making access to food possible," Hawkins said.

"Trade and access to food for the city will increasingly become a problem. The hinterland is already becoming more constrained," he added.

"The worst-case scenario is if a siege lasts for a long time, then it will be very difficult to help. It is a flat city with two banks of the river, fairly spread out. Falluja showed how crises can develop very quickly."

Source: MENA