Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Yazidi women who have escaped from captivity by Daesh and are now (a) being given refuge by organisations in Iraq and (b) in refugee camps in Turkey.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of Yazidi women who have escaped from Daesh captivity. Some reports suggest the figure could be approximately 2500 but there is no definitive estimate.

There are now over 3.4 million Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq. Our humanitarian partners do not take into consideration the ethno-religious origins of people requiring assistance. Assistance is provided on a needs basis, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. It is therefore very difficult to breakdown figures for those being cared for by organisations in Iraq or in refugee camps in Turkey on the basis of religion.

To date, the UK has pledged over £2.3 billion of humanitarian assistance in response to the Syria crisis, and provided an additional £79.5 million to Iraq to help support those displaced by Daesh.