The Iraqi Ministry of Commerce has removed 10,000 displaced families from the monthly food ration list, according to the internally displaced persons IDPs for various reasons.
The 10,000 families, all of whom were displaced during the war against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS from war-torn Mosul, center of Ninveh province, to Duhok Northern province and live in IDP camps, are traveling between Duhok and Nineveh provinces to get their monthly food rations.
“When I went to the food agent in Duhok, he told me that my name had been removed from the list. I have been traveling between Duhok and Nineveh since then, but my problem has not been resolved,” said Jihad Ravo, a resident of Sharia IDP camp.
“We are considered to be no longer displaced and have returned to our hometown,” he added.
The state-subsidized monthly food rations started during the Oil-for-Food Program which the United Nations UN imposed on Iraq in the 1990’s when the country was under an embargo.
The food basked has been continued after toppling Saddam Hussein regime in 2003 yet there have been many complaints about the quality and quantity of those rations.
The Iraqi government occasionally removes the monthly food rations of returning displaceds from Duhok province, sometimes taking time for their names to be transferred to agents in their home towns.
Ravu, said they left the camp six months ago and moved to the center of Sharia. “We are still living in displacement, but our place in the camp was bad. I have rented a house for 175,00 (Iraqi) Dinars (USD117) but they thought we have returned to Shingal (Sinjar).”
Qais Waisi, spokesman for the Duhok Food Distribution (State) Company, said At the beginning of the arrival of the IDPs, “we registered them to receive their monthly food rations in Duhok.”
“This year, about 10,000 families are no longer on the list of the Duhok Food Company, so we cannot give them food, in fact, we do not know the reason,” he added.
In recent weeks, a committee from the Iraqi Ministry of Commerce visited Duhok IDP camps to investigate whether the families removed are still living in the camps, migrated abroad or still in Iraq, Waisi said.
According to KirkukNow followups, the Ministry of Commerce removes any displaced family completes the process of returning to their homeland from the list of monthly food rations in Duhok province.
In 2022, the Iraqi government decided to suspend food rations for families who migrate abroad for up to three months, after which if they can prove that they have returned to Iraq, then their food rations will be resumed.
Ravo, who has five children and three nieces whose parents went missing after the IS attack on Sinjar in August 2014, said “I visited the food distribution companies in Duhok, where they said the solution in Nineveh where they said it possible your monthly ration have been transferred to Shingal, so your name is no longer in Duhok. Wait for a while and see what happens.”
“I ask that my monthly food ration not be transferred to Shingal because I cannot travel monthly,” Ravo added.
A source in the Duhok branch of the Iraqi Directorate of Migration and Displaced anonymously told KirkukNow “We are aware of this issue. The food rations have been delivered directly to Sinjar and Mosul why they are still living in camps. Some others have been suspended.”
“I want to assure them that no one's rights will be violated. Some legal action will be taken, the source added.
Of the total 42 million Iraqis, nearly 11 million live below the poverty line, which is equivalent to 25% of the population, compared to 20% in 2020 according to the statistics of the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
About 50% of the foodstuffs included in the state food basket are unfit for use, and every Iraqi citizen wastes 120 kilograms of food per year, according to statistics of the European Union Advisory Mission EUAM in Iraq in 2022.
