State of Iraq's Children 2007
At least 2 million Iraqi children lacked
adequate nutrition (according to the WFP assessment of food insecurity
in 2006) and faced a range of other threats including interrupted education,
lack of immunization services and diarrhoea diseases.
Only 28% of Iraq's 17 year olds sat
their final exams in summer, and only 40% of those sitting exams achieved
a passing grade in South and Central Iraq. Early estimates from the Ministry
of Education show that net primary
enrolment rates may have fallen from
86% in 2004 to 46% in 2006 (although the estimated 2 million refugees and
the lack of a current census may have contributed to this decline). However,
millions were able to return to school in November, despite the many challenges.
Many of the 220,000 school-aged internally
displaced children had their education interrupted, adding to the estimated
760,000 children out of primary school in 2006.
One third of children in remote and
hard-to-reach areas (28 out of 117 districts) were cut off from health
outreach services, including immunization, as a result of insecurity.
Only 40% of children nationwide had
reliable access to safe drinking water, and only 20% outside Baghdad had
a working sewerage service
An estimated 600,000 children had been
displaced since 2006, the vast majority unable to return home. By the end
of the year, approximately 75,000 children and their families were living
in temporary shelters. A few
families did begin to return: 50,000
refugees and 10,000 IDPs were registered between September and December
2007, according to the Iraq Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM)
and International
Organization for Migration (IOM).
Hundreds of children lost their lives
to violence and thousands fell into poverty after their main family wage-earner
was kidnapped or killed. A drop in violent incidents was reported by the
UN from July 2007,
particularly around Baghdad.
Approximately 1,350 children were detained
by military and police authorities, many for alleged security violations
(this includes a small number of detentions that may have occurred in 2006
or previously).