Homeless Iraqis Prompt Fears of Social Crisis http://uruknet.com/?p=m66412&hd=&size=1&l=e

In Iraq the spread of illegal squatter settlements has aid groups fearful of a looming social crisis. Recent reports from two international agencies found that of Iraq's 1.5 million internally displaced people, at least 500,000 have been forced to live in squalid camps without access to health care or public services. The UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, has recorded a sharp increase in squatters since 2009, and activists are demanding the US and UN tackle the problem before it gets out of control.

Daniel Endres, UNHCR’s Iraq representative, said: "We have also found that many refugees who returned recently from other countries have ended up in camps." Endres says: "The squatter camps are the biggest humanitarian problem facing Iraq. Because of war and conflict, this is still a broken society, and all the people who slip through the cracks are ending up in these camps."