Iraq
An IDP boy and his cat sit in a tent in Hamam al-Alil camp near Mosul, northern Iraq. Photo: Alan Ayoubi / NRC
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two years since the Iraqi city of Mosul was retaken from the Islamic State group (ISIS) in a ferocious coalition offensive, more than 300,000 residents are still unable to return to their homes, an aid organization said Thursday.
Those forced to leave the northern Iraqi city make up a fifth of Iraq’s entire 1.6 million-strong population of internally displaced people (IDPs), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said, while calling for action on reconstruction.
“For them, the suffering of the war that ended two years ago remains a daily battle for survival,” said Rishana Haniffa, the Iraq Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
“It’s a disgrace that after two years, thousands of families and children still have to live in displacement camps and in abysmal conditions because their neighborhoods are still in ruins.”
Much of Iraq’s second city was reduced to rubble in the savage battle to dislodge the jihadist group, which seized control and declared a “caliphate” in the summer of 2014.
Iraqi ground forces and relentless coalition bombing finally defeated the militants, but at the cost of civilian lives and infrastructure.
Some 138,000 houses were damaged or destroyed in the fighting, the NRC said – more than 53,000 in Mosul’s historic Old City alone.
According to REACH, an aid organization which gathers data on displacement, 78 percent of Mosul’s IDPs report having their homes damaged or completely destroyed.
A Mosul resident stands beside his destroyed home in the city of Mosul, northern Iraq. Photo: Alan Ayoubi / NRC
Those who have returned lack basic services, substandard housing, and are still threatened by unexploded remnants of war tangled in the rubble.
The UN migration agency IOM says some 305,376 remain displaced in IDP camps or in precarious circumstances elsewhere in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Just 4 percent of them told REACH they intend to return this year.
“Some have attempted to return several times but faced a dead end. In spite of the world’s attention two years ago, Mosul’s displaced population has all but been forgotten,” Haniffa added.
NRC has previously reported on the issue of undocumented children. Without identity papers, some 45,000 children are potentially denied access to healthcare and education and will struggle to work, buy property, open business, or get married.
Save the Children estimates 2.5 million children will need “emergency education support” in 2019.
Those born to ISIS parents are particularly vulnerable, leaving them on the margins of society and open to radicalization.
“We urge the Iraqi government and the international community to step up reconstruction work so that Iraqis can return to their homes,” Haniffa said.
“But in the meantime, the authorities can immediately help these families make a giant leap forward by issuing them with their missing documentation that would allow them to plan their return in dignity.”
Iraqi officials say they need more than $80 billion to rebuild the country. Pledges for around $30 billion were made at the Kuwait International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq in February 2018, but just a fraction of this has been delivered.
Reconstruction efforts in Mosul and elsewhere have also been hindered by widespread corruption. Iraq’s Integrity Commission reported in April that around $64 million in federal reconstruction funds had been embezzled from provincial coffers by the former governor of Nineveh Nawfal Hamadi and other officials.
In its April 22 report, the commission found 76 billion IQD ($63,725,240) had been illegally deposited into personal accounts or kept in safes. Although the money was recovered, the funds were frozen while the allegations were investigated.
Although ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria in March this year, remnants of the group and its sophisticated network of sleeper cells have resumed earlier insurgency tactics of bombings, abductions, executions, ambushes, and even arson targeting agriculture.
Those forced to leave the northern Iraqi city make up a fifth of Iraq’s entire 1.6 million-strong population of internally displaced people (IDPs), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said, while calling for action on reconstruction.
“For them, the suffering of the war that ended two years ago remains a daily battle for survival,” said Rishana Haniffa, the Iraq Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
“It’s a disgrace that after two years, thousands of families and children still have to live in displacement camps and in abysmal conditions because their neighborhoods are still in ruins.”
Much of Iraq’s second city was reduced to rubble in the savage battle to dislodge the jihadist group, which seized control and declared a “caliphate” in the summer of 2014.
Iraqi ground forces and relentless coalition bombing finally defeated the militants, but at the cost of civilian lives and infrastructure.
Some 138,000 houses were damaged or destroyed in the fighting, the NRC said – more than 53,000 in Mosul’s historic Old City alone.
According to REACH, an aid organization which gathers data on displacement, 78 percent of Mosul’s IDPs report having their homes damaged or completely destroyed.
A Mosul resident stands beside his destroyed home in the city of Mosul, northern Iraq. Photo: Alan Ayoubi / NRC Those who have returned lack basic services, substandard housing, and are still threatened by unexploded remnants of war tangled in the rubble.
The UN migration agency IOM says some 305,376 remain displaced in IDP camps or in precarious circumstances elsewhere in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Just 4 percent of them told REACH they intend to return this year.
“Some have attempted to return several times but faced a dead end. In spite of the world’s attention two years ago, Mosul’s displaced population has all but been forgotten,” Haniffa added.
NRC has previously reported on the issue of undocumented children. Without identity papers, some 45,000 children are potentially denied access to healthcare and education and will struggle to work, buy property, open business, or get married.
Save the Children estimates 2.5 million children will need “emergency education support” in 2019.
Those born to ISIS parents are particularly vulnerable, leaving them on the margins of society and open to radicalization.
“We urge the Iraqi government and the international community to step up reconstruction work so that Iraqis can return to their homes,” Haniffa said.
“But in the meantime, the authorities can immediately help these families make a giant leap forward by issuing them with their missing documentation that would allow them to plan their return in dignity.”
Iraqi officials say they need more than $80 billion to rebuild the country. Pledges for around $30 billion were made at the Kuwait International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq in February 2018, but just a fraction of this has been delivered.
Reconstruction efforts in Mosul and elsewhere have also been hindered by widespread corruption. Iraq’s Integrity Commission reported in April that around $64 million in federal reconstruction funds had been embezzled from provincial coffers by the former governor of Nineveh Nawfal Hamadi and other officials.
In its April 22 report, the commission found 76 billion IQD ($63,725,240) had been illegally deposited into personal accounts or kept in safes. Although the money was recovered, the funds were frozen while the allegations were investigated.
Although ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria in March this year, remnants of the group and its sophisticated network of sleeper cells have resumed earlier insurgency tactics of bombings, abductions, executions, ambushes, and even arson targeting agriculture.
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