Sinjar has been the site of grave war crimes and mass displacement going back a decade, with about 183,000 Sinjaris still displaced today. Yet despite years of waiting, not a single person from Sinjar has received the compensation payments that they are entitled to under Iraqi law for destruction of and damage to their property, we found a year ago.
80 percent of public infrastructure and 70 percent of homes in Sinjar Town were destroyed during the conflict against ISIS between 2014 and 2017. Without this compensation, many displaced Sinjaris lack the financial means to go home and rebuild the homes and businesses lost during the war. A decade on, tens of thousands of Sinjaris are still living in camps across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and largely reliant on humanitarian assistance. As the federal government’s July 30 deadline for closing these camps looms near, delivering these payments becomes even more important.
As of a year ago, 3,500 completed compensation claims were awaiting payment from the Ninewa Governorate’s Finance Department. That number has now risen to 10,000, and still not a single payment has been made, a representative of the Sinjar compensation office told Human Rights Watch.
The office has processed another 26,000 claims that are waiting for final approval from the appeals court before sending them to the Finance Department for payment, the representative said.
“We finished processing all the cases filed between 2021 and 2023, so there is no more backlog,” Judge Ammar Mohammed, head of the Tel Afar Compensation Committee, which oversees the Sinjar sub-office, told me. “We’ve done our job. It’s now the government’s job to pay.”
The state of the Tel Afar compensation office itself raises concerns that the Iraqi government is not adequately prioritizing this issue. I visited the sparsely furnished office, located in a rented house, in January. Piles of yellow folders lay stacked on the floor and across shelves. Every step of the process is done on paper.
“We’ve asked the government to help us digitize the process, but nothing has happened,” Judge Mohammed said. “We are worried about the files. If there is heavy rain and the office floods, the files would be damaged, and the applicant would have to start over. We don’t even have proper shelves.”
Following publication of the May 2023 Human Rights Watch report, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent us a letter outlining measures the Prime Minister’s Office had taken to facilitate compensation payments, including simplifying security procedures, adequately funding Law No. 20, and providing logistical and staffing support to the compensation sub-committee.
According to Judge Mohammed, none of these promises have yet materialized.
“During a conference with all the Compensation Committee heads, they promised us they would remove the security clearance step for people from Sinjar, but it’s still in place,” Judge Mohammed said. He said they have only removed the requirement for a security check proving applicants were not previously members of the Ba’ath party.
I raised these issues in multiple meetings with officials at all levels of government, from the local up to the Prime Minister’s office. Each time, the response was the same – the funds are there and ready, the payments will be made soon. More than once, I was told the funds would be released “next week.” Week after week, I waited to see if people would be paid, and week after week I was disappointed.
People from all other governorates in Iraq have been receiving compensation payments. Why is Sinjar the exception?
Government officials I spoke with cited vaguely worded “budgetary issues” as the reasons behind nonpayment, without further details.
For many Sinjaris, nonpayment of compensation claims is another example of the federal government ignoring their needs and effectively marginalizing the district. The decrepit compensation office looks like the physical manifestation of this neglect.
Only one of the Sinjaris I interviewed last year, Khalil Hasan, has returned home. “Returning to Sinjar was a decision rooted in my personal wellbeing, as I felt the camp life was no longer sustainable,” he said. Hasan said he invested a significant sum into renovating his house, but it wasn’t enough. “I completed my compensation paperwork in mid-2022, but the payout is still pending.”
Hasan said he feels the recommended compensation amount offered him is not commensurate with his loss. “They recommended compensation of 10 million IQD ($6,800) for both my shop and house, even though I bought my house for 50 million IQD ($34,000).”
Compensation is one factor among many that prevent Sinjaris’ return. The lack of services and infrastructure, and continued instability leave many fearful that their lives may be worse off in Sinjar than the camps. As one person told me, “If they pay me compensation and I rebuild my home, I can’t even be sure that it won’t be destroyed again if fighting breaks out. Sinjar just isn’t safe.”
The Iraqi government should urgently address bottlenecks and roadblocks preventing the processing and payment of compensation claims and pay people the money to which they are entitled. To enable displaced people to return home and respect all Sinjaris’ economic rights, the government needs to take an integrated approach to Sinjar, which includes reconstruction, rehabilitation, reparations, administration, and security.
Sarah Sanbar is the Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch
