![Iraqi children wait to be placed in refugee camps after escaping the violence in Mosul on 20 November 2016 [Feriq Fereç/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/20161120_2_20239264_16214842-e1551700412832.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Some 68,340 Iraqi have been displaced from the northern city of Mosul since the beginning of the Iraqi security forces’ campaign to retake the city from Daesh, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has revealed.
This brings the total number of displaced people in Iraq to 3.2 million.
Iraqi security forces waged an intensive military campaign against Daesh in Mosul in mid-October in the hopes of ridding the country of the militant group.
The Iraqi government and the United Nations have established refugee camps to house the displaced people near Mosul, Kurdistan and Salahuddin province.
Local and international human rights organisations have warned of the deteriorating living conditions in the camps, malnutrition and the spread of diseases.
According to Iraq Red Crescent Society, 40 per cent of those displaced live below the poverty line.