On Wednesday, February 5, 2020, a French delegation headed by Mr. Bruno Aubert, French Ambassador to Iraq and accompanied by Mr. Oliver Decottignies and representatives of France’s Crisis and Support Center visited Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) and were received by Mr. Hoshang Mohamed, Director General of the JCC.
Mr. Hoshang Mohamed, Director General of JCC extended thanks and appreciation to the government of France for the humanitarian support that has provided to the IDPs, refugees and host communities in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the humanitarian crisis in Iraq in 2014. He also said that the role of French NGOs has been valuable and essential in mitigating the crisis, hoping that such assistance would continue in the future. Mr. Hoshang also updated the delegation about the current humanitarian situation and the needs and barriers in front of the return of IDPs to place of origin. He also highlighted the declining of the funds which has negatively impacted the humanitarian programmes and projects.
Mr. Bruno Aubert thanked the efforts made by the JCC in coordinating the humanitarian response in Kurdistan and cooperating with the French Consulate General in Erbil as well as supporting the French NGOs, hoped that this coordination and collaboration would continue.
Mr. Oliver Decottignies praised the role of the JCC in supporting humanitarian partners, particularly French NGOs in delivering humanitarian assistance and expressed readiness for strengthening coordination with the relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region.
Then, representative of the Crisis and Support Center at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted the projects that France has been implementing to help IDPs, particularly Ezidis, refugees and host communities in the Kurdistan Region. He also hoped for increased partnership with the JCC in term of crisis management and welcomed the exchanges of expertise and practices between both agencies.
Mr. Hoshang welcomed the initiative and expressed readiness for increased coordination and collaboration in that regard, saying that JCC is working on bringing more foreign expertise to the Region to help strengthen the crisis management foundation.
Then, both sides exchanged views on the current situation and the ways forward to help the IDPs and finding synergies to support the IDPs, refugees and the return process and stabilization.
