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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – National and international human rights groups have expressed alarm over the “inhumane” forced return of more than 2,000 internally displaced Iraqis to their provinces of origin amid alleged threats by locals against the returnees.
New York-based Human Rights Watch published a report on Wednesday in which it claimed that more than 2,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been expelled from camps in Nineveh to their areas of origin in Saladin, Kirkuk, and Anbar.
“Some were forced to return to their home regions, despite fears for their safety, including from former neighbors who perceive them as being linked to the Islamic State (ISIS). Some have come under attack since being forced home,” the report said.
At the height of ISIS violence, some six million Iraqis were displaced across the country. Displacement was particularly pronounced in the north and west of the country – including the provinces of Anbar, Kirkuk and Saladin. While the majority of Iraq’s IDPs have returned home, some 1.6 million continue to reside in camps.
Many are reluctant to return home because of continuing violence in their home areas, a lack of reconstruction following the destruction of their homes, and little in the way of basic services. Some who have voluntarily left the camps have even returned.
The HRW report documents a series of forced returns and highlights both state force misconduct and civilian violence. Allegations against security forces include lying to IDPs about where they were being taken, and the forced return of IDPs to areas where ISIS activity is known to be rife.
The report also detailed the transportation of IDPs from Nineveh to their provinces of origin in inhumane conditions.
“On September 2, authorities expelled […] 481 people from Nineveh camps to Salah al-Din, after keeping them waiting on buses for over five hours without a bathroom, food, or water,” HRW said.
In the Anbar town of Haditha, a hand grenade was thrown at a school sheltering forced returnees on August 28 - despite the nearby presence of police.
In another attack three days later, two grenades were thrown at a Saladin camp after the arrival of Nineveh IDPs. According to the report, social media pages threatening the families were also set up. The IDPs were reportedly then transferred to another camp in the province on September 2 for their safety, where they faced further animosity.
“Residents at the new camp location launched protests when they heard of the families’ arrival,” the report said.
“Displaced people, like all other Iraqis, have the right to move freely in their country and decide where they feel safe to live,” Lama Fakih, acting Middle East director at HRW said of the report.
“Authorities can’t move people without first consulting them, especially not to places where they and their families face danger,” she added.
Marta Ruedas, Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations in Iraq, also expressed concern over the forced return of IDPs.
“While acknowledging the Government of Iraq’s expressed desire for IDPs to return home at the earliest opportunity, all such returns should take place within agreed-upon frameworks and with due consideration for humanitarian principles,” Ruedas said on Monday.
The expulsions, HRW claims, are based on a secret “Resolution 16” of Iraq’s National Security Council that orders the estimated 38,040 IDPs from outside Nineveh to leave camps in the province.
The resolution also stipulates that security forces develop a database of residents to isolate families with perceived ties to ISIS through screenings.
Speaking to Rudaw English on Wednesday, Hemin Bajalan, a commissar in Iraq’s Supreme Human Rights Commission (IHCHR), confirmed the Iraqi government was screening IDPs prior to their return.
The IHCHR, an independent commission funded by Iraqi government and under the oversight of Iraq’s parliament, says it has confronted the government about the forced returns.
“We have told the government that it is illegal and inhumane,” Bajalan said.
"They [Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement] call it voluntary return. We call it compulsory return,” he added.
The voluntary return of IDP families should take place only with government compensation – in the form of the 1.5 million dinar ($1260) grant from Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement - as well as the granting of security and allocation of services to their home areas, Bajalan says.
With provincial elections in Iraq slated for April 2020, Bajalan believes the forced returns may be politically motivated.
"An electoral commission decision says that only those who return to their provinces can vote [in the April 2020 provincial council elections]” he said. Last month, an Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission official also told Rudaw that IDPs living outside of their registered province of residence could be barred from voting.
The commission claims this is to prevent voter fraud, Bajalan said, but is “actually a pressure of the political parties.”
Government response to the allegations of forced returns is unlikely to be immediate.
With Iraq’s parliament in the midst of its two month long summer recess, discussion of the matter has not been possible, member of the parliament’s Human Rights Committee Baxtyar Jabar Shaways told Rudaw English. The IHCHR is to be tasked with investigation into the allegations once the recess ends, he added.
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