ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A migration office in Duhok was overcrowded on Monday with internally displaced persons (IDPs) waiting to complete necessary paperwork ahead of the government's deadline at the end of July for camp closures.
“I swear to god this is the third time I come here. I have only had my fingerprint taken. My turn will not come for another 20 days. This office is being unfair to us. I am from Persev camp, and I have been here since yesterday,” Daxil Aasim, an IDP from Shingal, told Rudaw near Dohuk’s migration office.
IDPs packed the streets around Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration office in Duhok, struggling to communicate with officials. The IDP were there to finish the paperwork required to return to the Yazidi homelands in Shingal (Sinjar).
Many expressed frustration, stating they have visited the office multiple times without being served.
“We did not have breakfast and came here. My daughter said, ‘Mom, wake up’. I asked, ‘What is it?’ She said, ‘Get up, let’s go.’ I said, ‘I can’t’. By the Peacock Angel, it was difficult for me to come,” 85-year-old Wasne Ibrahim told Rudaw while resting under the shade of a tree.
The ministry reported on Thursday that nearly 26,000 IDP families remain in camps across the Kurdistan Region. The majority of the IDPs reside in camps in Duhok province, followed by Erbil. The last IDP camp in Sulaimani province is nearing closure.
“There is significant demand on the branches of the directorate, especially in Duhok,” said Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the Iraqi ministry of migration and displaced.
"So far, nearly 6,000 people have requested to return home. We have sent 30 civil servants to Duhok’s branch to handle civilian affairs. If the camps do not close by the deadline, Iraq’s Council of Ministers must make a decision about it," he added.
The Erbil office of Iraq’s migration ministry has increased efforts to implement an Iraqi government decision to close all IDP camps in the country, including in the Kurdistan Region, before July 30.
Baghdad has offered 4 million Iraqi dinars (about $3,050) to families to return to their homes prior to the federal government’s deadline that will end 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.
Authorities are required to establish conditions and means for IDPs to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, according to the UN's guiding humanitarian principles.
By Didar Abdalrahman
