Nineveh officials address concerns over census data and disputed territories
Shafaq News/ Nineveh province in northern Iraq is preparing to conduct the general population census on November 20 and 21, the first census to be conducted in the country since 1997. Nineveh province’s MP Ahlam al-Kakai, haveexpressed opposition about the inclusion of disputed areas and displaced peoplein the Kurdistan Region's data while Governor Abdul Qader al-Dakhil reassuredthat the census will follow Nineveh's pre-2003.
al-Kakai, warned against including villages fromNineveh in the Kurdistan Region’s population count. She told Shafaq News thatsome villages in the al-Hamdaniya district, particularly those inhabited by theKakai and Arab communities, had been incorporated into the census for the Duhokgovernorate.
Al-Kakai added that she had contacted local authorities andthe Nineveh Statistics Department to understand the rationale behind thisdecision, “According to those sources, the inclusion of theseareas was a result of an administrative and organizational arrangement betweenthe Iraqi Ministry of Planning and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),” arguingthat incorporating Nineveh's areas into the Kurdistan Region’s data could be adangerous step, potentially leading to more controversial developments.
These concerns prompted the Nineveh Provincial Council toinvite the Governor, Abdul Qader al-Dakhil, and the head of Nineveh’sStatistics Department, Nawfal Suleiman, to address the issue. Marwan al-Taie, amember of the council, emphasized that the body opposed the deployment of KRGcensus teams in disputed areas within Nineveh’s administrative borders.
Al-Taie told Shafaq News, “The Nineveh Statistics Departmenthas confirmed that its teams will be responsible for conducting the census inall disputed areas within Nineveh. There was coordination between Iraq’sMinistry of Planning and the KRG on carrying out the census in areas under thecontrol of the Peshmerga forces, which are administratively part of Nineveh.”
On the other hand, Governor al-Dakhil reassured that allareas within Nineveh’s administrative boundaries, as they existed before April2003, would be included in the census under Nineveh’s data, not the KRG’s.Al-Dakhil told Shafaq News that Nineveh had already ranked first in Iraq inconducting a trial census.
Al-Dakhil stressed that Nineveh had been unfairly neglectedin the past due to the lack of a population census. He pointed out thatofficial figures had underestimated the province's population at less thanthree million, while the actual number could exceed five million. Thisdiscrepancy, he said, has had negative consequences for Nineveh, particularlyin relation to its share of the federal budget.
“All enumeration, numbering and census operations that takeplace in the disputed areas will be fixed within the data of Ninevehgovernorate,” he said, noting that these areas will include all lands belongingto the administrative borders of Nineveh before April 2003.
As for the displaced people from Nineveh, particularly fromthe Yazidi community who fled from Sinjar to the Kurdistan Region, al-Dakhilconfirmed that the census would reflect their original place of residence, notthe areas where they were displaced. He noted that the displaced persons'census form would include a field to document their original residence, especiallyfor those from Sinjar.
About Census
The population census in Iraq has evolved into a politicallycharged issue, intricately linked to the electoral process and the sectarianquotas that have shaped Iraqi politics since the U.S. invasion, rather thanbeing viewed as a purely administrative task.
The Ministry of Planning emphasizes that the census aims tocreate a reliable population database, ensuring equitable resource distributionand financial allocation to provinces. Additionally, the data will aid inlong-term development planning. In a move welcomed by those critical ofsectarianism, the ministry revealed that the census will exclude questionsrelated to religious, sectarian, or ethnic identities, thereby avoiding furtherentrenching Iraq’s sectarian divisions.
