Lack of funds forces merger of Sulaimani IDP camps

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Lack of funds has led to the closure of a camp in Sulaimani housing displaced Iraqi families and its merger with another camp nearby.

Iraq’s migration ministry, in a statement on Facebook, announced the closure of Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, following the return of the last group of families to their homes in Salahaddin province.

Khalid Baba Rasul, the director of Sulamani’s department of migration, told Rudaw that this was not true and in fact most of the families were transferred to another camp.

“Around 200 families used to live in the camp and about 70 of them returned to their homes. The remaining families were transferred to the Ashti IDP camp, which is a few kilometers away from Arbat,” he said.

The reason for the move is lack of money.

“Due to the lack of financial support and the cut off of much of the aid available to the camp, it was decided to merge the camp residents with those at the Ashti Camp, so the camp was closed,” he said.

Baghdad wants to close down all IDP camps in the country. In December 2022, Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displaced Evan Faeq Jabro said all the camps would be closed within six months. Human rights advocates, however, have expressed concern about the push and said that no one should be forced to leave the camps and all returns must be voluntary.

Last month, the federal ministry announced the closure of Qoratu IDP camp near Khanaqin district, but this was also denied by local authorities. Bestun Zhalayi, head of the Garmiyan migration and crisis response department, told Rudaw at the time that most of the camp’s residents have returned home, but 12 families still remain.

Jabro said that the return of the families to their homes is a part of directives issued by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to close the file of displacement in the country. Jabro thanked Sulaimani local authorities for facilitating the return and called on Duhok and Erbil to follow suit.

The Kurdistan Region is hosting more than 640,000 displaced Iraqis, most of them living in camps across the Region’s four provinces, according to statistics from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center.  

Many people are reluctant to return to their hometowns because of continuing violence, a lack of reconstruction, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left the camps to salvage their homes and livelihoods have been forced to return to the camps, unable to piece together the basics.