ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Darbaz Muhammad, Iraq's immigration minister, announced Wednesday the number of Iraqi internally displaced persons (IDPs) had reached 3.5 million and predicted the figure would rise.
Muhammad said in a press conference the growing number of IDPs had put the government under “pressure and facing a difficult task.”
The minister added that so far up to 669,000 IDP families are registered in the ministry of immigration.
Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, fell to ISIS on June 10, 2014, forcing an estimated 243,000 to flee, according to government data. In Anbar province, also under ISIS control, 1 million people have fled and the government has recorded an additional 600,000 from Salahadin province.
Also according to the ministry, in Kirkuk province 16,000 families have become IDPs, in Diyala province 61,000 families and in Baghdad 26,000 families.
International human rights law identifies the forced displacement of populations as a crime against humanity, and victims of that policy have a right to return to their homes or be compensated.
