Organisations working for a reversal of the tide of violence in the Middle East welcomed the end of the six-year British military mission in Iraq yesterday, and called for continued investment in development, peacebuilding and change.

A recent meeting of Iraqi Christian refugees and church representatives from around the world has head heart-rending stories of suffering, says Annegret Kapp. Now it is time to back words with action.

The members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) have been asked to engage "their own governments over the need to break the international silence on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and provide greater assistance to displaced and refugee Iraqis".

Christians have given evidence to the United Nations concerning the estimated two million refugees that have fled Iraq since the invasion in 2003, urging Britain and US to open their doors to them.

Calls are growing for Britain and the US to do more for the two million refugees who have fled Iraq since the invasion four years ago.

As violence continues to make life intolerable for many people in Iraq, Pope Benedict XVI, head of th world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, has made an appeal to the international community for direct assistance to those forced to leave their homes as a result of the "dramatic situation" in the country.