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Today, more than 10 million Iraqis – half of them children – are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. More than 3.3 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes since 2014. As Iraqi Security Forces and their allies work to liberate Mosul of ISIS militants (a process that may last for months), hundreds of thousands more families could be displaced and in need of care. How can this impending crisis in Mosul be mitigated while not losing sight of the millions of others who will still need food, medical care, and temporary shelter? What are conditions like for Iraq’s displaced population? And what are aid agencies, the Iraqi government, and the international community doing to assist?

On this edition of Iraq Matters, we are pleased to welcome Daryl Grisgraber of Refugees International who recently returned from Iraq. While there, she visited displacement camps in both central and northern Iraq, and met with displaced families, aid agencies, and UN officials to gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation.

Prior to joining Refugees International, Daryl worked at a local NGO in Cairo providing refugees with legal assistance and psychosocial services. She spent six years at Amnesty International USA where she assisted asylum seekers, worked to improve U.S. and international refugee policy, and handled other aspects of the organization’s refugee program.