Iraqi ministry shuts down last IDP camp in Sulaimani

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s migration and displacement ministry on Thursday announced the closure of the last camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sulaimani province ahead of a looming Baghdad deadline to stop all aid to the camps.

“Today, we announce from Sulaimani province the closure of all camps based on a directive from the prime minister and the implementation of a Council of Ministers decision to end the displacement file,” Minister Evan Faeq Jabro said in a press conference after closing Ashti camp - the last in Sulaimani.

Approximately 1,800 families returned from around 2,500 who were in the camps, according to Jabro, who said that the Iraqi government did not provide obstacles to those who chose to stay in the province.

“We will work in the coming days with the regional government to implement a specific program for them [IDPs] to choose to stay or return to their places of origin,” she said.

Baghdad has offered four million dinars (about $3,050) 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.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has formed a joint investigation with Iraq’s migration and displacement ministry and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) interior ministry to discuss the closure of IDP camps in Erbil and Duhok provinces, Jabro said.

She added that an agreement was struck on Wednesday between her ministry and the KRG’s Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) to provide a roadmap for the closure of camps in Erbil and Duhok.

Human rights advocates have expressed concern about Iraq’s push to close the camps and said that all returns must be voluntary.

On Monday, IDPs crowded before a migration office in Duhok to complete necessary paperwork to return to their hometowns ahead of Baghdad’s deadline to close the camps.

Iraqi ministry shuts down last IDP camp in Sulaimani

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