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| (REACH) |
There is very little information coming out about Iraq’s postwar areas. The Iraqi media says little and the western press even less. NGOs are the only organizations putting out reports on these places. REACH released an assessment of Anbar’s Fallujah district. It found that almost all the displaced have returned, war damaged was mostly repaired, but there is a lack of services and jobs which is hindering the revival of the economy.
Fallujah was the very first city to fall to the insurgency
in January 2014 five months before Mosul. Two years later it was freed by the
Iraqi forces. The fighting for the district led to mass displacement, but by
the start of 2019 almost all of the 530,000 displaced (IDPs) had returned with
only 10,358 still without their homes. The International Organization for
Migration has found that areas that were liberated the earliest have had the largest
number of returns.
Those areas have also had more time to rebuild, but the
economy is still lagging. In Fallujah most of the war damage has been repaired
by the government, the United Nations and NGOs. 22% of housing still needed
work. Major issues remain. One is a lack of jobs which is holding up reviving
the economy. For instance, REACH did a survey and found that the number one
priority was jobs at 63%, and only 33% of adults were working. For the young,
18-29 years old, the situation was even worse with a 76% unemployment rate. A
major reason was that the main industries have not been rebuilt. Investors also
said they had no interest in funding those businesses. That left the government
as the largest employer, but only 28% of workers were in the public sector. In
fact, the state stopped hiring when the war started. The result is that people
are depleting their savings and borrowing money. 83% of respondents in REACH’s
survey said they were in debt. This same situation is found across Iraq’s
post-conflict areas. Many companies have not been able to come back to pre-war
levels, and there is no effort to help the economy from either the private or
public sector. That means this situation will remain the same for the foreseeable
future.
Services are also not up to par. REACH found that they are
below pre-war levels. Only 18% of respondents said they had access to health
care. There are two main public hospitals and 20 health centers in Fallujah
city, but in the rest of the district these facilities are not available.
Schools are also struggling. The costs for an education have increased and
families are being asked to pay the salaries of teachers, there are not enough
educators and supplies and classrooms are overcrowded. Electricity was only
available for an average of 12 hours per day. Water and waste had similar
problems. Iraq has always struggled with providing services. For them to be
worse than 2014 adds mores struggles for the day to day lives of the residents.
It makes recovering from the war all that much harder.
Fallujah is probably better off than other areas that went through
the war because it has had more time to rebuild. Issues persist with the
economy and services. Those do not look to be recovering soon because there is
no aid coming from the government. That leads to the bigger issue that the
Mahdi administration has no reconstruction strategy.
SOURCES
International Organization for Migration, “Return Index, Findings Round
Three – Iraq,” March 2019
REACH, “Fallujah
City Area-Based Assessment, November 2018-January 2019,” 1/31/19
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