Displaced Iraqis return home in their millions
Defeat of ISIL means 3.2 million people are no longer displaced out of total of six million since 2014
There are more Iraqis who have returned home than there are internally displaced, for the first time since December 2013, the International Organisation for Migration says.
At the end of last year the organisation identified 3.2 million people who had returned to their homes since January 2014, compared with 1,370,862 at the end of 2016 and 468,780 at the end of 2015.
The war with ISIL has led to the displacement of nearly 6 million Iraqis since January 2014, with 3.4 million in March 2016 being the highest number of people displaced at any one time. At the end of last year, 2.6 million people were internally displaced.
“The significant return trends monitored in the last few months are largely due to the retaking of all Iraqi areas by the Iraqi Security Forces,” the organisation’s spokeswoman Sandra Black told The National.
“This, coupled with the improved security, has encouraged groups of the displaced to return to their place of origin.”
More than 1.2 million people have returned to Anbar province, while 30 and 14 per cent of the population has returned to Nineveh and Salah Al Din respectively.
The three provinces were the worst affected by ISIL’s occupation, with 86 per cent of the internally displaced population.
Anbaris were the first to suffer the brutal rule of the extremists, beginning in late 2013, while Nineveh’s Yazidis were subjected to systematic murder, persecution and enslavement in the summer of 2014.
The organisation said the return of people who were displaced in their home province account for 55 per cent. The most significant concentration is in Nineveh (57 per cent), which has an intra-governorate internally displaced population of 97 per cent.
Images taken this month in Wana village, west of Mosul, show children in colourful garb carrying zip-locked bags stuffed with bright blankets.
Others returning lug large rolled-up carpets and the organisation’s non-food item kits back to their homes after months or even years of displacement.
Many houses were partly or totally destroyed during the battle between ISIL and coalition-backed Iraqi forces. The migration organisation said that nearly a third of those who returned are reported to have gone back to houses that suffered significant to complete damage and 60 per cent to moderately damaged residences.
“In the long term, the intention to return is high among internally displaced people,” Ms Black said. “In the short term, the preference is to voluntarily integrate locally.”
Last week refugees and aid workers said that thousands of displaced Iraqis were being forcefully returned to ensure that the country’s coming election takes place on time. People must be in their area to vote and if they do not return home, this could delay the election.
Aid workers said that between 2,400 and 5,000 people had been forcibly returned by the Iraqi army between November 21 last year and January 2.
“These returns are not safe,” one aid worker told Reuters. “Even those who don’t openly resist, they cannot really say no to a bunch of people with guns.”
Displaced people who return home prematurely are likely to face obstacles to reintegration.
“UNHCR strongly discourages return movements until necessary services are in place, and continues to advocate with authorities to facilitate return only when the minimal conditions are met, and to promote the availability of information about conditions in their home areas,” UNHCR spokeswoman Kate Pond told The National.
While most displaced Iraqis want to return to their homes, doing so prematurely exposes them to dangers from booby traps or acts of vigilantism.
“Sustainable return is not just about bricks and mortar,” said UNHCR representative to Iraq Bruno Gedda.
“Rebuilding and restoring communities is a holistic process, from clearing explosive hazards to repairing damage to infrastructure to restoring services, and facilitating social cohesion so that communities can again begin to flourish.”