The Iraqi Ministry of Migration and the Displaced has extended the closure of camps until the end of this year to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and allow the return of IDPs.
According to the decision of the Council of Ministers, all the internally Displaced Person IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq KRI were supposed to be closed by the end of July, but that deadline passed and the decision was not implemented.
"The government was supposed to close all the camps, but the decision has been extended until the new year, as both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government are still in negotiations on the return," said Pir Dayan Jaafar, KRG’s Director of the Department of Migration, Displacement, and Crisis Response in Dohuk Northern Province.
The Iraqi Ministry of Migration has accused the (KRG) of preventing the return of IDPs while the latter claims it supports the voluntary not compulsory return of the displaced.
A source in charge of the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and IDPs, unauthorized to speak to the media, anonymously told KirkukNow that the decision to close the camps has not been cancelled yet extended till end of the year.
"The application for return has been suspended due to the talks in Baghdad over the issue as they must decide on new measures.”
Last month, the processing of IDP returns in Duhok was suspended due to overcrowding in front of the immigration office and other problems.
IDPs stand in front of the Migration Office for return processing, Duhok, 2024. Ministry of Migration
The Ministry of Immigration raised the financial grants provided to displaced persons wishing to return from one 1.5 million Iraqi dinars IQD (USD1,000) to four million dinars, in addition to distributing household supplies and some other benefits such as appointments and social welfare salaries, with the aim of encouraging the displaced to return home and shut the camps.
"We have officially requested to increase the return allowance from four million dinars to an amount that is satisfactory to the IDPs and can meet their needs with the money," said the director of the immigration office of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
"The negotiations between the two governments are going well and good decisions are being made in favor of the IDPs," the KRG official said.
There were four IDP camps in Sulaimaniya, the last of which was Ashti camp in Arbat district, which the ministry shut on July 11th.
"We are waiting for the Iraqi government to establish a new mechanism and resume the process of returning the IDPs," Iskandar Mohammed Amin, director of the Iraqi Migration and IDPs Office in Duhok, told KirkukNow.
There were more than 600,000 displaced people in the KRI, some of whom are distributed among 26 camps, 16 of which are in Dohuk, where 26,000 families live, most of whom are Nineveh residents, especially from the Ezidi component of Shingal District, according to statistics from the KRG’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center.
