ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A school funded by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) for refugee and displaced children was inaugurated in Erbil on Thursday.
The school, located in Erbil's Basirma district, was established by the UNHCR with a $500,000 investment and will accommodate 400 students.
At the opening ceremony, Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw noted that the regional government does not support a federal push to send displaced families back to their homes.
“The Kurdistan Region and Erbil will remain a safe haven for refugees and displaced people. The Iraqi government’s decision to close the camps is a rejected matter for the Kurdistan Regional Government,” Khoshnaw said.
In April, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported there were 1,098,913 internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country, primarily in Duhok, Erbil, Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Sulaimani provinces. At the time, it had recorded 4,871,916 people who had returned to their homes after the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Baghdad had set July 30 as the deadline for the Kurdistan Region to close its camps, though that timeline has been extended. Erbil refused to forcibly close the camps and in response, Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displacement Evan Faeq Jabro filed a lawsuit against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Last week, the ministry met with a Kurdish delegation and UN representatives to discuss mechanisms for the safe return of displaced persons. Jabro said that Baghdad decided to halt its legal proceedings due to cooperation from the KRG in implementing a plan “to close the camps and fully resolve the displacement issue.”
Human rights advocates have expressed concern about the push to close the camps. They have warned of secondary displacement if returns are not safe, voluntary, and dignified.
IOM, citing data it collected in Iraq from April 1 to June 6, said that nearly a fifth of displaced persons “did not return to their location of origin and are considered secondarily displaced IDPs.”
Payman Mohammed contributed to this report.
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