Iraqis at risk as UN says aid could be cut by 'more than half' Published duration 4 June 2015

image copyright AP image caption Nearly half of the eight million people in need in Iraqi are children

The UN has warned it may be forced to shut down or reduce more than half of its critical aid operations for those affected by conflict in Iraq.

It is appealing for nearly $500m (£325; €443) to cover the immediate needs of 5.6m Iraqis for the next six months.

Three million have been displaced since Islamic State (IS) begin its campaign to seize vast swathes of Iraqi territory last year, the UN estimates.

But many refugees have been scattered, further hampering aid efforts, it adds.

'Catastrophic'

"More than 50% of the operation will be shut down or cut back if money is not received immediately," warned the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande

The consequences of such a reduction in aid would be "catastrophic", threatening to leave millions without food, water and shelter, she added.

In a new report, the UN describes the humanitarian needs in Iraq as "staggering". It says more than eight million people are already in need of immediate support, with the figure projected to rise to 9.9m by the end of 2015.

The IS crisis is one of the most brutal insurgencies in the world, the report says, with populations subjected to mass executions, systematic rape and torture.

Caroline Hawley, BBC World Affairs Correspondent

As atrocities committed by IS militants make headlines, a desperate humanitarian crisis has been deepening without the international attention which aid workers believe it deserves.

A UN source told me the warning over funds was "not an idle threat that aid agencies sometimes make."

Because of the slump in international oil prices, and the cost of counter-insurgency operations, the Iraqi government is broke and unable to help.

So the UN is hoping that countries in the US-led coalition, who've spent large amounts of money on airstrikes against IS militants, will now come forward with cash for the conflict's many victims. Officials say it's needed for everything from "survival kits" for people as they flee, to counselling for traumatised women and girls, and programmes trying to prevent children being recruited to fight.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Millions of Iraqis have fled the IS advance over the past year

"Children have been used as suicide bombers and human shields, sold at markets, killed by crucifixion and buried alive. Women and girls have been enslaved and subjected to grotesque sexual violence."

Children constitute 45% of the total number of people in need, with three million of them not receiving the most basic standard education, the report details.

The UN says the funding shortfall has already forced 77 frontline health clinics to be closed, with food rations to over a million people reduced.

Separately on Thursday, the director of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, warned up to 84% of its health services in Iraq would close by the end of this month without further funding.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also joined the appeal for more funds and said it was expanding its operations in central and northern Iraq to meet growing demand.

"The human suffering witnessed by our teams is enormous," MSF's spokesman Fabio Forgione said, describing current levels of assistance as "largely insufficient... even to meet the most basic services".

Islamic State (IS) fighters last month seized Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's largest province of Anbar, forcing tens of thousands more to flee the city.

But Iraqi government forces backed by Iraqi Shia militia say they are preparing to launch a counter-offensive to retake the city.