Number Of Displaced Returning Home Continued To Grow In Iraq Jan-Feb 2018

From January to February 2018, the number of displaced (IDPs) that returned home doubled. The total number of IDPs dropped from 2.5 million to 2.3 million, and the number of returnees went from 3.3 million to 3.5. There was a report of some new displacement however.

Most those going back to their homes were to the provinces that saw the heaviest fighting during the war against the Islamic State. By February, the total number of returns were 1,228,368 to Anbar, 1,172,448 to Ninewa, 506,856 to Salahaddin, 270,852 to Kirkuk, and 219,516 to Diyala. Another 76,644 returned to Baghdad, 36,138 to Irbil, and 780 to Dohuk. Those first five were major battlefields, while Baghdad has been the main target of IS terrorist attacks. There was also displacement in southern Irbil and Dohuk when the militants eventually turned their sights on the Kurds. Now that the war is over, thousands of people are heading back. There were also a series of forced evictions at the end of 2017, despite official denials by the government.

Many people fleeing the fighting from 2014-2017 went to Kurdistan, Baghdad or the south, but there was a lot of internal displacement within provinces as well. Many of those people are going back now as well. 89,364 people returned within Ninewa, 12,504 did that in Baghdad, along with 11,268 in Kirkuk, 2,100 in Diyala, 402 in Irbil, 312 in Anbar, and 174 in Babil. Ninewa for instance has several camps based in the Hamam al-Alil area south of Mosul, and now many are leaving them.

There is some minor on going displacement. Voice of America reported that people were arriving at camps in northern Iraq because they lacked money, their dwellings were destroyed, the lack of services, and security. This has been going on for quite some time, especially from Mosul, where large parts of the west remain in rubble and life is very hard. These appear to be very small numbers however. Those issues along with the large number of IS families that are banned from returning has led the International Organization for Migration to warn that there might be a large amount of people that never go back. After the civil war ended in 2008 there were around 1.5 million that never returned, and that may be repeated.

Province	Displaced
Ninewa	697,974
Dohuk	355,530
Irbil	234,846
Salahaddin	215,400
Sulaymaniya	181,302
Kirkuk	153,390
Baghdad	143,904
Anbar	90,312
Diyala	80,118
Najaf	43,440
Karbala	41,922
Babil	30,516
Qadisiyah	14,964
Wasit	14,202
Basra	8,664
Dhi Qar	5,634
Maysan	3,240
Muthanna	2,340
TOTAL	2,317,698

Province	Returns
Dohuk	780
Irbil	36,138
Baghdad	76,644
Diyala	219,516
Kirkuk	270,852
Salahaddin	506,856
Ninewa	1,172,448
Anbar	1,228,368
TOTAL	3,511,602

SOURCES

Anadolu Agency, “Iraq’s displaced aren’t being forced home: Official,” 1/17/18

Arraf, Jane, “Months After ISIS, Much Of Iraq’s Mosul Is Still Rubble,” NPR, 3/3/18

International Organization for Migration, “Reconstruction Needed as Displaced Iraqis Continue to Return: IOM Iraq,” 2/20/18

Murdock, Heather, “New wave of families flees post-Islamic state Iraq,” Voice of America, 3/5/18

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Iraq: Internally displaced people by governorate (as of 28 February 2018), 2/28/18