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Op-ed signed by the Haiti NGO Coordination Committee, which includes ACTED, published on 11.01.2012 on Le Monde newspaper website.

Posted by Roxanne Paisible_IRC on December 21st, 2011

An estimated 1.3 million Iraqis remain displaced in their own country as the U.S. military mission in Iraq comes to an end. Another 1.6 million have fled to Syria, Jordan and other counties in the region. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) continues to provide a safe haven to these displaced people and other vulnerable refugees forced to flee their homes due to violence and persecution.

As NGOs who have worked in Somalia for decades, we are accustomed to the daily struggle to survive that is the reality for most Somalis. However, never before have we faced such acute suffering with so many lives at stake. Somalia is at a turning point. The next three months are critical; hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance. Efforts to increase assistance and prevent more deaths will not be enough unless accompanied by a dramatic change in approach. The humanitarian imperative of saving lives must override any political considerations at this crucial time.

HPG Working Papers, September 2011
Authors: Vicki Metcalfe and Sara Pavanello, with Prafulla Mishra

In recent decades Kenya has seen rapid urbanisation driven by a complex interplay of factors including chronic under-development, political and ethnic violence, climatic hazards, poor land management and limited economic opportunities. In 1999, one-third of the population was estimated to be living in urban settlements. This is expected to rise to 60% by 2030.

Reducing Troops Would Put Civilians at Risk, Global Coalition Warns

(New York, July 6, 2011) – The United Nations should ensure that peacekeepers have a strong mandate to protect civilians and should increase the number of troops deployed to South Sudan after the country becomes independent on July 9, 2011, a global coalition of eight international nongovernmental organizations said today.

Text and Photos by Peter Biro

April 25, 2011 - The village of Zor Kaleh is nestled in a valley at an altitude of some 2,300 meters (7,500 feet) in Pakistan’s magnificent upper Swat valley. The snow-covered peaks of the Hindu Kush mountain range surround the village with its quaint wooden houses and vegetable gardens.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is saddened to report that Pierre Kla Sondé, a member of our child protection staff in Ivory Coast, was killed on March 28 during violence near Duékoué in the western part of the country.

Kla Sondé, 40 and an Ivorian native, was part of an IRC team aiding people displaced by fierce political violence and unrest that followed disputed presidential elections in November.