Civilians continued to pay the heaviest toll as a spate of bombings over the past few weeks claimed hundreds of lives. The explosion that rocked Baghdad on 25 October was the deadliest in two years. The ICRC has been working in coordination with the Iraqi health authorities to help medical personnel treat casualties in hospitals across the country by providing them with emergency medical supplies.

Safety remains a primary concern for most Iraqis but, for many, simply earning a living is also a constant struggle. The challenge is especially difficult for disabled people, women and elderly people who have to support their families. The women now heading households after male breadwinners were killed, detained, or went missing, for example, often struggle to provide their families with daily meals. The ICRC gives the most vulnerable people an opportunity to earn income through cash-for-work programmes involving farm labour, for example, or the repair and cleaning of irrigation canals. "Repaired canals convey water more efficiently and ultimately help increase agricultural production and livestock yields. They also reduce the risk of flooding during winter," said Julien Le Sourd, an ICRC engineer in charge of water and sanitation activities in Iraq.

As a consequence of decades of conflict, access to clean water remains inadequate in some parts of the country. Drought, floods and poor infrastructure have all contributed to a depletion of water resources. "Until recently, we had to buy our drinking water because the water in the shallow wells was too salty to drink," said a villager in Ninawa governorate, where the ICRC recently restored the supply of clean drinking water for 5,000 people. The facilities completed in October will eventually become the main source of water for more than 40,000 people in the area.

The ICRC regularly visits detention facilities run by various Iraqi ministries and the US authorities to monitor conditions of detention and the treatment of detainees. In October, ICRC delegates visited detainees:

• in US custody in camp Taji, Baghdad governorate;
• held under the authority of the Ministry of Justice in Ma’aqal and Amara prisons, Basra governorate, in Fort Suse and Chamchamal prisons, Sulaimaniya governorate, and in Rusafa prison, Baghdad governorate;
• held under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior in Tasfirat Ramadi, Anbar governorate;
• held under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior and various security forces in northern Iraq in five prisons in Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya governorates.

Over 9,600 Red Cross messages were exchanged between detainees and their families in October. The ICRC and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society work together to ensure that detainees and their families can stay in touch and exchange family news.

In addition to visiting detainees, the ICRC offers its services to help repatriate foreign detainees who want to return to their home countries after being released. In October, the ICRC helped five Saudis, one Palestinian and one Afghan return to their countries following their release from Rusafa prison in Baghdad.

The ICRC also supports efforts by prison authorities to fulfil their obligation under Iraqi and international law to ensure that detainees' basic rights are upheld and that their needs are met. "Detainees have the right to live in decent conditions, to receive proper health care and to be treated humanely, no matter what the charges against them might be," said Carole Pittet, the ICRC's coordinator for detainee-welfare activities in Iraq.

In October, the ICRC held a two-day workshop in Baghdad in cooperation with the Iraqi justice and health ministries to discuss issues relating to living conditions and health care in Iraqi correctional facilities.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi families are still longing for news of loved ones who vanished in the armed conflicts of recent decades. Only the authorities can provide information that could shed light on what happened to the missing people. They must do everything they can to do so.

The Technical Sub-Committee of the Tripartite Commission, investigating cases of persons missing in connection with the 1990-1991 Gulf War, held its 62nd session in October in Kuwait. The meeting was chaired by the ICRC and attended by the Commission's members: Iraq, Kuwait and the Coalition (France, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States).

Since the last session held in August, the Iraqis have taken steps such as publishing the names of the missing Kuwaitis in the local media.

The members of the Sub-Committee reiterated their commitment to do everything possible to establish what happened to those who went missing.

Decades of conflict have left many people in Iraq disabled. Their physical problems are compounded by psychological difficulties and the feeling of being a burden on the family.

The ICRC provides equipment and training for 10 limb-fitting and rehabilitation centres run by the Iraqi Ministry of Health, one ICRC-managed centre in Erbil, and two workshops manufacturing crutches. In October, the ICRC did renovation work and installed new machinery in the Helena paediatric rehabilitation centre in Erbil. The improvements will enable the centre to produce better orthoses for children.

Also in October, the ICRC held a seminar in Erbil on lower limb orthoses for patients with knee disorders. Nine technicians from seven physical rehabilitation centres and technical institutes from all over Iraq attended.

The ICRC and the Iraqi Red Crescent also provided wheelchairs for 50 patients at the Hilla rehabilitation centre in Babil governorate.

More on the programme for socio-economic reintegration of orthopaedic patients implemented in northern Iraq.

The ICRC maintained its support for income-generating projects that enable communities to be self-sufficient economically. In October:

• around 1,000 families headed by women were given food parcels and hygiene items in Diyala, Ninawa, Baghdad and Salah Al-Din governorates (similar assistance is provided every month);
• more than 5,000 sheep, 1,500 goats and 150 cows – the source of income of around 350 people – were immunized against foot-and-mouth disease as part of the second phase of an animal vaccination project in Kirkuk;
• around 7,000 people in Erbil and Ninawa governorates were given barley to use as fodder for their animals – their only source of income – which would otherwise have been lost because of the recent drought in the region;
• more than 600 farmers from Wassit, Babil and Diyala governorates received seed and fertilizers to plant their lands, improve their harvest and make their farming sustainable;
• more than 17,000 people were paid – some of them under a cash-for-work programme for particularly vulnerable people – to repair and clean irrigation canals in Kirkuk, Diyala and Dohuk governorates.

ICRC water engineers work continuously to repair and improve water infrastructure in Iraq. In October, the ICRC:

• increased the water storage capacity, improved the drinking water quality, and carried out repair work in the 215-bed Balad General Hospital, in Baghdad governorate;
• renovated Umm Al-Baneen primary health-care centre, in Thi Qar governorate, treating 125 patients per day;
• installed a new compact unit in Makhmour, Ninawa governorate, increasing the amount of water provided for the 50,000 people in the area from 50 to 112 litres per person per day;
• built a new compact unit in Tajneed, Diyala governorate, supplying water to more than 3,500 internally displaced people. The new compact unit, running only eight hours a day, can now supply each person with 110 litres per day instead of the 20 litres that used to be available.

Water was delivered by truck to:

• 4,500 displaced people and Al Imam Ali General Hospital in Sadr City, Baghdad, and Al Kindi General Hospital and Al Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, also in Baghdad;
• Qalawa Quarter camp in Sulaimaniya, hosting around 360 internally displaced people.

In line with its mandate, the ICRC promotes international humanitarian law and reminds parties of their obligation to protect civilians. In October, it organized seminars and presentations on international humanitarian law for various audiences all over Iraq.