ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Compensation for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who return to their homes has been paused because of a lack of funds, leading to fewer people leaving camps in the Kurdistan Region, the spokesperson of the Iraqi ministry of migration told Rudaw on Saturday.
“This year’s budget allocations have not yet been approved by the Iraqi parliament, so we do not have the funds necessary to compensate returning displaced persons,” said Ali Abbas, adding that the return of displaced persons “has somewhat stopped.”
The Iraqi government last year said it would give four million dinars to each returning family, one of several measures to encourage people to leave the camps. Other incentives include providing job opportunities in both the public and private sectors, providing monthly social security stipends for low-income and needy individuals, and offering interest-free bank loans.
Many Yazidis who have returned to Shingal, however, have not received the promised four million dinars (about $3,050), the district mayor of Shingal told Rudaw in January.
More than one million Iraqis are internally displaced and about 109,000 of them are living in 21 camps in the Kurdistan Region, according to February data from the United Nations refugee agency.
In 2024, “more than 10,000 displaced families, which is more than 100,000 people, have returned to their homes across Iraq,” Abbas told Rudaw in December.
Many of the camps in the Kurdistan Region suffer from a lack of funds, as the humanitarian focus has shifted from emergency response to development and stabilization.
Human rights advocates have expressed concern about Iraq’s push to close the camps, stressing that all returns must be safe, voluntary, and dignified.
Despite the incentives from Baghdad, many families are reluctant to leave the camps because of continued violence in their home areas, a lack of reconstruction following the destruction of their houses, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left the camps have been forced to return.
