Perspective: Suspension of Red Crescent could affect the lives of thousands

BAGHDAD, 19 December (IRIN) - The lives of thousands of Iraqis are going to be adversely affected by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society's (IRCS) decision on Monday to suspend its activities in Baghdad, according to doctors, humanitarian workers and ordinary Iraqis who depend on the organisation for their survival.

"We do not have anyone to assist us now that the Red Crescent volunteers have suspended their work. They used to deliver food on a daily basis to hundreds of displaced people in the capital. Now there will be no more food to eat and our children are going to suffer because we do not have any money to buy food," said Abu Zeinab, 45, an internally displaced person whose family has taken refuge in a derelict school in Baghdad with 23 other families.

"We used to wake up in the morning in peace because we knew that Red Crescent volunteers would remember us and bring us some food, but today we woke up desperate after we were told that they were no longer going to work in Baghdad. Until they return to work, thousands of children will get sick or die from malnutrition," Abu Zeinab added.

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