Iraq
Families wait for food distribution at the Hasansham camp for internally displaced persons, northern Iraq, Dec. 10, 2020. File photo: AFP via Getty Images/Florent Vergnes
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Salahaddin provincial officials have announced the return of 200 displaced families from the province and said all camps in Salahaddin have been closed, the deputy governor confirmed to state media on Monday.
Muhammad Mahmoud Hussein al-Jubouri told state media “the displaced have been returned to their areas in al-Awja, south of the center of Tikrit and the area of al-Rifayat in Balad district.”
Jubouri said the local government is making special efforts to restore stability to liberated areas by restoring basic services, especially in the south of Salahaddin province.
Almost 200 families in al-Jada camp in Nineveh province have returned to their homes in Mosul and Salahaddin, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement said earlier in June.
Last year, the Iraqi government began a push to close 17 camps around the country, three years after the defeat of ISIS, including in the Kurdistan Region.
The government has been criticized for this policy. Rights monitors say returns must be voluntary.
Many displaced Iraqis are reluctant to return home because of continuing violence in their home areas, a lack of reconstruction, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left the camps to salvage their homes and livelihoods have been forced to return to the camps, unable to piece together the basics.
Muhammad Mahmoud Hussein al-Jubouri told state media “the displaced have been returned to their areas in al-Awja, south of the center of Tikrit and the area of al-Rifayat in Balad district.”
Jubouri said the local government is making special efforts to restore stability to liberated areas by restoring basic services, especially in the south of Salahaddin province.
Almost 200 families in al-Jada camp in Nineveh province have returned to their homes in Mosul and Salahaddin, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement said earlier in June.
Last year, the Iraqi government began a push to close 17 camps around the country, three years after the defeat of ISIS, including in the Kurdistan Region.
The government has been criticized for this policy. Rights monitors say returns must be voluntary.
Many displaced Iraqis are reluctant to return home because of continuing violence in their home areas, a lack of reconstruction, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left the camps to salvage their homes and livelihoods have been forced to return to the camps, unable to piece together the basics.
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