Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been their contribution to the current battle for Ramadi; what is their estimate of the resident population of Ramadi in (1) 2004, (2) 2009, (3) 2015, and (4) now; what is their assessment of where the people who have left that city are now living; and what contribution they are making to the support and help for these displaced people.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Royal Air Force’s close air support operations continue to play a key role in the Coalition’s support to the Iraqi Security Force’s in the battle for Ramadi. A lack of official data in Iraq makes population estimates unreliable. The best population estimates we have for Ramadi are 455,000 in 2004 and 376,000 in 2011. The planning figure used by the UN Development Programme stabilisation work is 500,000. The majority of the population of Ramadi had already left when Daesh entered the city, with most fleeing to host communities or camps. The UN estimated the residual population of the city at approximately 12,000-15,000 people. The UK has provided £79.5million in humanitarian support across Iraq since June 2014. The UK is the biggest donor to the UN emergency pooled funding mechanism and provides support through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other international bodies for those displaced.
