Iraq's estimated 270,000 families (1.6 million people) displaced by
sectarian violence since February 2006 are increasingly returning
home, but many still face problems including a lack of adequate
shelter, limited basic services, food insecurity and a lack of
jobs, according to the latest IOM report on Iraqi displacement.

The April report, which focuses on nearly 50,000 of the families
identified by IOM field monitors, notes that while improved
security in most parts of the country is encouraging people to
return to homes that they fled three years ago, early summer heat
is bringing with it new fears of drought and water shortages for
Iraq's vulnerable displaced.

"A lot of people now feel that it is safe enough to go home. But
if their houses have been damaged, or if basic services like water
and electricity have been cut off or if they can't find a job, they
need help to stay put. We are working with the government and our
national and international partners to achieve that," says IOM Iraq
Chief of Mission Rafiq Tschannen.

The government has officially ordered an end to new registration
of internally displaced families, limiting the numbers eligible for
certain types of government assistance. But according to the IOM
report, registration is still occurring in some governorates as
local authorities struggle to resolve the complex housing issues
thrown up by displacement. 

These include cases of families unable or unwilling to return
for security reasons and in need of help to integrate in new
communities; families willing to return, but unable to do so
because their old homes have been occupied by other displaced
families; and displaced families facing eviction from their new
homes, because the former owners want their property
back.    

The report points to one such case in the Al Asatetha compound
in Baghdad, where more than 70 families currently face eviction
from homes belonging to the faculty of nearby Al Mustansiriyah
University. The university wants the homes returned to their
original owners, but the courts are faced with a major dilemma as
to what to do with the displaced families currently living
there.

According to the report, some local authorities are responding
by holding back on implementing eviction orders because of
mitigating humanitarian circumstances. In Anbar, six of eleven
families ordered to leave a government building in Fallujah were
eventually allowed to temporarily remain there on the grounds of
their extreme poverty.

Returnee reports, along with IOM's regular reporting on Iraqi
displacement, including governorate profiles, biweekly updates,
tent camp updates, and yearly and mid-year reviews, are available
at "http://www.iom-iraq.net/library.html#IDP" target="_blank" title=
"">http://www.iom-iraq.net/library.html#IDP.

For more information, please contact:

Martin Ocaga

E-mail: "mailto:mocaga@iom.int">mocaga@iom.int

Or

Liana Paris

Tel. +962 6  565 9660. Ext. 1061 and 1033

E-mail: "mailto:lparis@iom.int">lparis@iom.int