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HASSAN SHAM CAMP, Iraq — Internally displaced people (IDPs) from across Iraq are returning to camps in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region amid a lack of services and security in their areas of origin.
Umm Sarmad, a mother of six, returned to Hassan Sham camp last month, after she left for Salahaddin province.
"We don’t live a good life. We are a family of seven and we can’t buy things. We don’t have a house and we can’t afford to rent. The security situation is not good. Even healthcare is not good, and coronavirus has spread. But the situation is better in the camp," she told Rudaw.
More than 1,300 IDPs have returned to camps in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the year, according to figures from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC).
Another family returned to Erbil's Bahirka camp from Baaj in Nineveh province.
"We returned here after three months. We couldn’t bear the situation there. We rented an unfinished house, with no water or electricity, for 100,000 Iraqi dinars ($69). We used to buy water for 45,000 dinars ($31)," said Soorya Ali.
Iraq has asked the KRG to close camps under its control, but KRG officials say they will not force IDPs to return home.
"The policy of the Kurdistan Region Government and the Ministry of Interior is clear and firm. We support the voluntary return of the IDPs to their hometowns," said Hoshang Mohammed of the KRG's JCC.
Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
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