ICC Note: More than 18 months have passed since the attack of ISIS jihadists in Iraq sent hundreds of thousands of fleeing for their lives. As they fight to survive a second winter, the situation remains desperate for many. Basic needs like shelter, food, and clothing are in short supply. The lack of jobs, schooling, and any sort of future is pushing many to abandon the region altogether.

01/10/2016 Iraq (Independent) The plight of Iraqi refugees facing another long winter, 18 months after fleeing Isis in Mosul, will be highlighted on Monday by senior bishops in Jordan as part of a solidarity tour of the “forgotten” Christians of the Middle East.

The international group of mainly Catholic bishops will use their journey around the region’s beleaguered Christian communities to draw world attention to the harsh conditions faced by Iraqi Christians who were driven from their homes by the Isis advance in the summer of 2014.

Some 80,000 Christian refugees fled Mosul and the Nineveh Plain under threat of forced conversion or execution but remain inside Iraq in the Kurdish capital of Irbil.

Many of the further 8,000 who left for the Jordanian capital, Amman and have been living in churches or disused containers are now having to move into crowded, rented accommodation partly funded by the Catholic charity Caritas – while they hope for permits to allow them onward passage to North America and Australia.

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