Baghdad takes KRG to court over closing IDP camps
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - On Sunday, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit filed by Baghdad accusing Erbil of failing to shut down camps hosting people who have been displaced from federally-controlled provinces for years.
The Iraqi government has closed most internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the country and on January 23 it set July 30 as a deadline for the Kurdistan Region to close its camps. Erbil has refused to forcibly close the camps, leading Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displaced Evan Faeq Jabro to file a lawsuit against the Kurdish government.
There are more than 630,000 IDPs in the Kurdistan Region, though most of them reside outside of the 23 camps established across Duhok, Erbil, and Sulaimani provinces, according to figures from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center. The Kurdistan Region was hosting several million IDPs at the peak of the conflict with the Islamic State (ISIS).
Iraq says there are over 30,000 IDPs from Iraq’s southern and central provinces living in the Kurdistan Region’s camps. Baghdad has offered four million dinars to families who return to their homes by July 30 - the date the federal government will cease all aid for IDPs.
Despite the financial incentive, many families are reluctant to leave because of continuing violence in their hometowns, a lack of reconstruction following the destruction of their homes, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left the camps have been forced to return, unable to piece together the basics.
The camps in the Kurdistan Region suffer from a lack of funds. In December, a Sulaimani migration department official told Rudaw that residents of Arbat camp were moved to Ashti camp to save money after aid was cut off.
Human rights advocates have expressed concern about Iraq’s push to close the camps and said that all returns must be voluntary.
The Iraqi government has closed most internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the country and on January 23 it set July 30 as a deadline for the Kurdistan Region to close its camps. Erbil has refused to forcibly close the camps, leading Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displaced Evan Faeq Jabro to file a lawsuit against the Kurdish government.
There are more than 630,000 IDPs in the Kurdistan Region, though most of them reside outside of the 23 camps established across Duhok, Erbil, and Sulaimani provinces, according to figures from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center. The Kurdistan Region was hosting several million IDPs at the peak of the conflict with the Islamic State (ISIS).
Iraq says there are over 30,000 IDPs from Iraq’s southern and central provinces living in the Kurdistan Region’s camps. Baghdad has offered four million dinars to families who return to their homes by July 30 - the date the federal government will cease all aid for IDPs.
Despite the financial incentive, many families are reluctant to leave because of continuing violence in their hometowns, a lack of reconstruction following the destruction of their homes, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left the camps have been forced to return, unable to piece together the basics.
The camps in the Kurdistan Region suffer from a lack of funds. In December, a Sulaimani migration department official told Rudaw that residents of Arbat camp were moved to Ashti camp to save money after aid was cut off.
Human rights advocates have expressed concern about Iraq’s push to close the camps and said that all returns must be voluntary.