Clean water and electric blankets for around 316 families 1580 people. According to its mission the Bocelli Foundation aims at achieving concrete, tangible, and multipliable actions, this time alongside UNHCR for the emergency in Iraq.
In Iraq because of the violent ongoing conflict one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the past twenty years is taking place. Besides the almost two million Iraqis forced to leave their homes and villages, there are also 228,000 Syrians who are running away, crossing Turkey to find safety in the Iraqi Kurdistan. Figures that do not stop: every day 300 500 people cross the border and reach northern Iraq from Kobane.
“We are very grateful to the Andrea Bocelli Foundation for its valuable support – says Laura Iucci, the responsible for fundraising of companies and foundations. The help of the Foundation is even more precious in this difficult winter phase: in Kurdistan, in the northern part of Iraq, temperatures reach even -16°. The electric blankets, together with mattresses and accommodation, remain in fact an absolute priority”.
“We are happy to be next to UNHCR in its emergency operations for Iraki refugees – says Andrea Bocelli who has been recently awarded, together with his wife Veronica Berti, the prestigious recognition “UNCA Global Citizens of the Year” from the hands of the General Secretary of United Nations Ban Ki-moon. In Iraq is now ongoing one of the most serious humanitarian crisis of the last decades. We are very close to Christmas and there are still many families that are in urgent need of help. Even a small gesture can make the difference.”
Since the beginning of the conflict UNHCR has provided emergency goods and protection to more than 680,000 people, through flights, cargo ships and land convoys. In a few weeks 6 new camps have been built and 559 shelters have been provided. But there is still much work to be done. The aims of UNHCR is building 11 new refugee camps, and intensify the aid program for winter for 40 thousand families of internally displaced (about 240 thousand people) and 4,700 Syrian families escaped to Kurdistan Iraq.
To support emergency operations of UNHCR in Iraq, you can contribute through ccp 298000 Reason for payment (Iraki crisis), by phoning N. 800.897.888, on the site www.unhcr.it or through bank transfer IBAN IT53K0523271030000010016699 Fondazione Andrea Bocelli- Reason for payment Iraq Emergency.