Returns to Baghdad and Diyala Increase, Ethnic Strife Drives New Displacement in Disputed Kirkuk
Returns of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to Baghdad and
Diyala are on the increase with government programmes and improved
security, while ethnic strife drives new displacement in disputed
Kirkuk, says IOM's latest Displacement and Return Assessment report
published this week.
In an effort to encourage returns, the Ministry of Displacement
and Migration (MoDM) is granting every returnee family previously
registered with them the sum of a million Iraqi Dinar or USD
600. In Baghdad, the authorities have announced the launch of
a massive eviction operation to remove squatters from occupied
homes of the displaced so that they may return.
Although many houses in Baghdad are illegally occupied by
militants, squatters are simply other displaced families, who will
once more be forced to move. Families squatting in homes of
the displaced in Baghdad will receive six months' rent, the
equivalent of USD 250 per month, when they vacate these homes and
allow displaced families to return.
However, fear is mingled with hope in Baghdad. According
to the report, returnee families in Hurriya and Abu Ghraib
neighbourhoods have been targeted by homemade bombs. Other
returnees did not want to be identified as such, for fear of being
targeted.
The report goes on to note that improved security in Diyala has
led to a large wave of returns throughout the governorate.
Monitors have identified hundreds of returnee families, many of
whom are in need of humanitarian assistance, as their homes have
been either looted or destroyed.
In the northern oil-rich governorate of Kirkuk, hundreds of
families are being forced to leave their homes as a result of
rising ethnic tensions fuelled by disputes over the governorate's
future.
According to the report, increasing numbers of Arabs, Kurds, and
Turkmen are all being forced to flee their homes and face bleak
living conditions in their places of secondary displacement. Most
are unable to afford spiralling rent prices or gain access to
employment and basic services.
The report cites the case of 75 Arab families who were recently
forced to leave two villages in Hawija district for the
neighbouring Kubry sub-district to escape ethnic persecution.
According to IOM monitors on the ground, about half of the
displaced families in this group are vulnerable female-headed
households and orphans, who are currently sheltering in mud huts or
tents, without access to potable water, medical care and other
basic amenities. As a result, many are suffering from infectious
diseases.
A further 34 Turkmen families were also recently displaced from
Telafer district to Kirkuk's Hay Athar district. Because they
cannot afford to rent houses, the families are now squatting in
government buildings where they face the threat of eviction.
Another group of 63 Kurdish families was also displaced, ending
up in the centre of Daquq district and the Banja Ali area of Kirkuk
city. All these displaced families are now out of work and cannot
pay for basic services.
According to IOM's Mid-Year Displacement and Return Review, an
overwhelming majority of Iraq's 2.8 million IDPs and returnees
continue to suffer from inadequate shelter, insufficient access to
potable water, food and other basic services such as health care,
education and electricity.
Despite limited funding, IOM continues to help displaced, Iraqi
returnees and host communities with emergency food, water and
household item distributions and community assistance projects.
Iraqi returnees will need funds for income-generation projects to
ensure that they re-integrate well in their place of return.
But overall assistance to these vulnerable communities remains
inadequate. Until long-term stability is realized, the rule
of law improved and basic services restored, internal displacement
in Iraq will remain a serious humanitarian crisis that calls for
urgent assistance, according to the report.
Returnee reports, along with IOM's regular reporting on
displacement, including governorate profiles, bi-weekly updates,
tent camp updates and yearly and mid-year reviews, are available at
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