Over 1,000 Iraqi IDPs return to homes in Anbar: Ministry
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration on Monday announced the return of 1,072 displaced people to their homes in the country’s western province of Anbar.
The IDPs were residing in camps in Amiriya Fallujah and Bzebez, and on Monday, returned to their areas in Qaim and Karma, the Ministry’s Director in Anbar, Mustafa Hamed Sarhan, said in a statement.
They were sent back as part of the voluntary return program managed by the Ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Transport and security forces in Anbar.
Recently, Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted the experiences of Iraqi families struggling to find a safe home in Iraq: Not a Homecoming, a new report that describes a government system that often puts its vulnerable citizens in danger.
Following the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014, over six million Iraqis were displaced in the country.
After the military defeat of the jihadist group, the number of IDPs has since dropped to below two million, 1.2 million of which are still in the autonomous Kurdistan Region in the north.
Many Iraqi IDPs refuse to return to their areas, however, due to security concerns and the lack of basic services in those areas.
Over the past year, the Islamic State has carried out insurgency attacks, kidnappings, and ambushes in territory it once held despite Iraq declaring victory against the jihadist group in December 2017.
Editing by Nadia Riva