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Iraq

Iraq: Humanitarian Bulletin, July 2021

Attachments

Contents:

• Overview on Displacement/Returns in Iraq

• Protection Actors Concerned about HLP, Civil Documentation

• Continued Decrease in Reported Access Constraints

• Maintaining Minimum Standards in Camps

• Challenges with Durable Solutions in Ba’quba

• PSEA Complaints Flowchart

Overview of Displacement and Returns in Iraq

More than 6 million Iraqis were displaced at the height of the military operations to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from 2014-2017. According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), as of 31 July 2021, there remained 1,191,470 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq. 1 There are IDPs in all 18 governorates, in over 100 districts throughout the country. Over 92 per cent of all remaining IDPs are in protracted displacement, having been displaced for three years or longer, with most displaced for more than 5 years (79 per cent). Only 15 per cent of IDPs live in camps (primarily in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq [KRI]); the majority (76 per cent) are out-of-camp IDPs living in private settings, with the remaining 9 per cent live in substandard housing—“critical shelter”—outside of camps (such as makeshift shacks in informal settlements or unfinished, abandoned or non-residential buildings). The proportion of IDPs in urban centers has been increasing since 2018 as formal camps close. IOM reports this is mainly due to a perception of better security, access to services and livelihoods opportunities.

IOM-DTM has recorded 4,884,612 returnees in Iraq, living in 40 districts across eight governorates. Return rates have largely stagnated, outside of exceptional events such as widespread camp closures, with only 140,562 returns (3 per cent of the total) taking place over the last year. Ninety-five per cent of returnees are living in their habitual residence, with 4 per cent in critical shelters, and 2 per cent in other private settings. Approximately half of returnees (51 per cent) live in conditions of medium or high severity, indicating a lack of livelihoods, services, social cohesion and security. The governorates of Ninewa, Anbar and Salah Al-Din host the largest number of returnees.

The humanitarian response in Iraq is in its seventh year, and humanitarian needs remain, driven by the incomplete status of recovery, reconstruction and reconciliation efforts in conflict-affected governorates in the north and central part of the country. In parallel to the ongoing humanitarian response, the United Nations’ (UN) is looking ahead to the transition to stabilization and development actors, as many of the challenges facing IDPs and returnees cannot be addressed by humanitarians alone. To this end, the UN has been working with the Government of Iraq to draft the UN Sustainable Development and Cooperation Framework for Iraq (UNSDCF), which seeks a harmonized and collective response to unmet development challenges, including durable solutions to end displacement. The UNSDCF is expected to be launched in the coming weeks.

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