The number of COVID-19 cases across the Kurdistan Region since the start of the pandemic has reached 352,141 confirmed cases, of which 327,960 have recovered and 6,176 have died. As one of the measures to contain the spread of the pandemic, residents or visitors traveling to the Kurdistan Region are required to bring a negative PCR test result, taken within 48 hours of arrival. Those without will be required to take a PCR test at Kurdistan Region's airports.

As of October 1st, the Kurdistan Regional Government has received over 1.5 million doses of COVID vaccines through donations from abroad and the Iraqi Government. Nearly 1 million residents have received at least one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, or Sinopharm. Most vaccines administered have been Pfizer-BioNTech. According to the KRG Ministry of Health, approximately 15% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated. The KRG is currently receiving 100,000 doses per week, and as a result, the vaccination rate has doubled. 

The Kurdistan Region continues to host the largest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in Iraq. According to the Kurdistan Regional Government's Joint Crisis Coordination Center, 926,018 displaced people are currently registered with the KRG, of whom 664,237 are IDPs, and 261,781 are refugees. Out of the refugees, 241,937 are from Syrian Kurdistan, 8,479 from Kurdistan of Turkey, 10,548 from Kurdistan of Iran, 736 are Palestinian, and 81 are from elsewhere. Only 30% of refugees and IDPs live within the 36 camps; the remaining 70% live outside camps: 41% of the displaced population lives in Erbil, 40% in Duhok, and 19% in Slemani.

The Yazidi Community continues to experience great hardship. On August 2nd, the community commemorated the seventh anniversary of the Yazidi genocide by ISIS. The United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Rapid Vulnerability Assessment on Sinjar District, reported that humanitarian conditions in the Yazidi homeland, Sinjar, continue to be fragile. Some of the key findings were as follows: 60% of Heads of Households have received no formal education, 74% of households have marginal and precarious shelter arrangements, with 50% living in abandoned buildings.

Since late September, dozens of Yazidi migrants who left Sinjar searching for better lives have been stranded on the Poland-Belarus border. According to Kurdish media and Yazidi activists, they don't have food and water and are in a desperate state. They are among hundreds of migrants, including Kurds, caught up in a dispute between European nations and Belarus over the status and movement of the migrants.

Seven years after ISIS captured Sinjar and large parts of Iraq, 2,763 Yazidi women and children are still missing. ISIS embarked on a campaign of genocide against the ancient religious minority in 2014, killing more than 3,000 and abducting and enslaving about 6,000 men, women, and children.

The Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Nadine Maenza, recently praised the Kurdistan Regional Government on its decision to designate the Christian majority suburb of Ainkawa, a new district in Erbil Province. This new designation would allow residents to "nominate civic leaders, appoint officials, manage their own security and directly shape their destinies," said Maenza in a tweet. Nearly 90% of the residents of Ainkawa are Chaldean, Assyrian, and Syriac Christian, with nearly 40 churches of different sects throughout the district.

The ongoing Turkish airstrikes have predominantly targeted rural Kurdish villages in Sinjar and Duhok. In September, an airstrike hit Hiroor Village in Duhok and hospitalized two, and on August 17th, another airstrike hit a makeshift hospital in the village of Skiniya near Sinjar, killing five people and wounding others. While Ankara argues these strikes target the PKK, its attacks on villages in Kurdistan Region and on Sinjar district have resulted in casualties and damage to people's property who have nothing to do with the PKK.

Similarly, in early September, Iran conducted a wave of airstrikes, including drone attacks, against Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups in the Sidakan, Choman, and Haji Omran areas close to Iran. The attacks are endangering innocent civilians, and local farmers and shepherds have been afraid to work in their fields.

The KRG has repeatedly called on all sides to consider the immeasurable damage these attacks cause to innocent civilians. 

Elections to the 329-seat Iraqi Parliament took place on October 10th. Internally displaced people, patients in hospitals, prisoners, and security forces across the country cast their ballots two days before the rest of the country. For the first time, two members of the Kakai Kurdish religious minority will be among the representatives in the Iraqi Parliament. Also, four Yazidi and five Christian candidates won seats. Preliminary results indicate that turnout was 43%. Muqtada Sadr's bloc secured the most seats at 72, followed by the Taqaddum (Progress) bloc of the Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Al-Halbousi with 37 seats. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by President Masoud Barzani and the State of Law bloc led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, with 33 seats each, are tied for third place. As a single party competing in the election, the KDP has emerged as the biggest party in Iraqi parliament, positioning itself once again as the most prominent Kurdish party, followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan which won 16 seats.

Some parties have disputed the results, but UN and EU election observers declared the elections to be peaceful and orderly. The official results and turnout numbers are expected to be reported by October 25th.

The cost of providing essential services to nearly 1 million IDPs and refugees in Kurdistan is about $866 million per year or $72 million per month. The KRG continues to shoulder about 70 percent of these costs.

To learn more about the humanitarian situation or how you can help support vulnerable communities in Kurdistan, please don't hesitate to get in touch with Delovan Barwari, Director of Public and Humanitarian Affairs at the KRG Representation in the United States: delovan.barwari@us.gov.krd.