New human rights reports

The International Rescue Committee reports (February 17th): Seven years into the Iraq conflict, millions of Iraqi civilians remain uprooted and desperate, but ongoing strife and persecution, occupied and ruined homes and lack of vital services in their communities of origin preclude most from returning home safely, says the International Rescue Committee’s Commission on Iraqi Refugees.In its third report, “A Tough Road Home: Uprooted Iraqis in Jordan, Syria and Iraq,” the Commission says only a tiny fraction of Iraq’s displaced have returned home, in spite of reports that would suggest otherwise. For the vast majority of those who remain uprooted, the situation is precarious and growing worse, yet aid levels that were inadequate to begin with are dropping off.
The Commission found that most displaced Iraqis inside and outside Iraq are struggling to get by and continue to face overwhelming economic obstacles. They have largely exhausted savings they once had and are becoming more if not solely dependent on charity. Few are able to find stable sources of income. Many lack adequate shelter, food and other basic services. A large number suffer severe psychological distress over the loss of family, savings, livelihoods and property. In Iraq, government assistance is often out of reach because of chronic insecurity and bureaucratic red tape.

http://www.theirc.org/news/unable-return-home-safely-uprooted-iraqis-grow-destitute-and-desperate-6845

Meanwhile more medical evidence on abnormal leukaemia rates:
Nerve agents could be to blame for tripling of child leukaemia in Basra

The Times reports (February 19th): Rates of leukaemia in children around the Basra area of Southern Iraq have almost tripled in the last 15 years according to calculations by public health experts. Research published in the American Journal of Public Health documents 698 cases of leukaemia among children under the age of 15 in the period to 2007. There was a peak of 211 cases in 2006.
Rates increased from three to almost 8.5 cases of the disease per 100,000 children over the time period. This is more than double the rate of leukaemia in the European Union.
The researchers speculated that increased exposure to substances related to childhood leukaemia might be responsible. War-related nerve agents and pesticides, and the widespread use of depleted uranium munitions, might also be factors, they said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7033011.ece