Their return took place within the voluntary return program launched by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The program has previously paved the way for the return to Shingal of 420 families in 2022 and 2023.
"We are grateful for the people of Kurdistan and the government [Kurdistan Regional Government]. Thanks be to God, during the past nine years that we lived here they were very kind to us. We thank them. We are returning home," Jamal Kuku, a returnee said. "Our home is in the village of Girzar. We will temporarily go to Shingal city now until we finish rebuilding our home and then we will go back to Girzar."
Yazidis in Shingal were subjected to countless heinous atrocities, including forced marriages, sexual violence, and massacres when the Islamic State (ISIS) captured the town in 2014, bringing destruction to many villages and towns populated by the minority group. They were forced to flee to displacement camps across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
There are still around 100,000 Yazidis in camps across Duhok province. Those who have opted to stay in the camps say their return is contingent upon the restoration of services and security in Shingal.
"Our houses have been destroyed," Nawaf Ibrahim, a Yazidi IDP at the Kabartu camp said. "If they rebuilt our houses and supported us, we would return..."
According to the IOM, around 80 percent of Shingal’s public infrastructure and 70 percent of civilian homes were destroyed during the years of the ISIS war from 2014 to 2017. Fundamental services such as electricity and water are not consistently available, and numerous health and education facilities have yet to be reconstructed after having been destroyed during the war.
Political disputes over the town between the federal government and the KRG, as well as the presence of several armed groups, have disrupted the reconstruction of Shingal. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report in June slammed Iraqi authorities for failing to adequately compensate thousands of Yazidi families who bore the brunt of ISIS’ atrocities.
Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to normalize the situation in Shingal but the deal has yet to be implemented. The United States has repeatedly called on the Iraqi and Kurdish governments to “immediately break the political deadlock” in the town.
While Shingal was liberated from ISIS in late 2015, a myriad of armed forces is now present in the town, each with various allegiances. The groups currently present in Shingal, many of which have gained a foothold there after the ousting of ISIS, include the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
