Iraq - IOM Iraq’s new Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has identified 2,176,764 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the 13-month period since January 2014.

The revised DTM methodology has expanded its field data collection to include a Group Assessment component that gathers information through a network of key informants.

The Group Assessment will add further clarity to the data in terms of sex and age disaggregation, movement intentions, push factors, and sectorial needs. Preliminary results are offered below.

Through the recent reporting period of 1-15 January 2015, the DTM has identified an overall increase of 53,424 individuals. Due to the continuing conflict in Diyala governorate, the DTM identified an increase of 31,134 individuals displaced since the end of December.

From September 1 to date, a series of distinct, concurrent crises have been recorded in several central northern governorates and have triggered the displacement of 306,996 individuals. Kirkuk, Diyala, Anbar, Ninewa and Salah al-Din governorates received a total of 219,474 individuals.

Throughout 2014, just fewer than one million individuals fled Ninewa governorate. The second greatest IDP population were displaced from their homes in Anbar with 601,770 individuals, followed by Salah al-Din with 273,192 individuals.

Dahuk governorate received the largest IDP population with 462,342 displaced individuals (21 per cent of all IDPs) seeking safety in the four districts of Amedi, Zarko, Sumel and Dahuk. A further 119,148 individuals (6 per cent) sought refuge in the assisted districts of Akre and Al-Shikhan.

Of the overall displaced population 30 per cent (659,988 individuals) are housed in critical, temporary shelter arrangements. These include unfinished buildings, religious buildings, schools and informal settlements. The largest segment of this critically sheltered population is in Dahuk (193,542 individuals), and in Anbar (97,092 individuals). Overall, across all locations, the most common critical shelter arrangement is unfinished and abandoned buildings, housing 374,412 individuals.

Through the revised DTM Group Assessment methodology, a total of 518 displaced groups have been assessed in 155 locations, representing 310,608 displaced individuals across 16 governorates. Preliminary analyses found that priority needs, ranked by urgency, were financial aid/access to income, followed by shelter and housing, food, and other non-food relief items (NFIs).

Respondents were asked to indicate the reasons for their displacement from their place of origin. The vast majority, 90 per cent, indicated generalized violence and armed conflict as the primary reason for their displacement; 5 per cent reported eviction; 3 per cent claimed to have received direct threats to their family; and 2 per cent had had family members killed during the conflict, causing them to flee.

The majority of the respondents (77 per cent) reported a desire to return to place of origin, 20 per cent reported uncertainty and will wait on several factors before deciding, 3 per cent did not reply, and less than 1 per cent said that they would locally integrate in their current location or resettle in a third location.

IOM spoke with Sabeeha Mohammed, who was displaced from Falluja, Anbar Governorate and is living with her four children and extended family in an unfinished building shared with 220 other families in Heet, also in Anbar. All the residents in the building were displaced prior to June 2014. They identified their primary needs to include food, NFIs and shelter.

She said: "Running for your life, and not knowing when you will ever go back to your home is the most difficult thing that you could ever experience. The already long escape road felt a lot longer because we were moving through hot zones, so I couldn't hold my tears from falling when I reached our safe destination with my children. I would never want to go through such times, so I won't go back to our house unless our safety is guaranteed back there."

The DTM is an IOM information management tool that gathers specific information regarding the status and location of IDPs. The most recent IOM Iraq DTM dataset, Dashboards, and Dynamic Displacement Map, in addition to previous DTM products, can be found at http://iomiraq.net/dtm-page.

For more information please contact

Sandra Black

IOM Iraq

Tel. +964 751 234 2550

Email: sblack@iom.int