Over 300 return to Shingal from Duhok camps

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 300 people residing in camps in Duhok province have returned to their homes in Shingal after years of displacement.

“The Minister of Migration and Displacement Ms. Evan Faeq Jabro, announced the return of 326 displaced persons from the Mam Rashan camp in Duhok province in the Kurdistan Region to their original areas of residence in Shingal district in Nineveh province,” the ministry said in a statement.

Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the ministry, told Rudaw on Thursday that the families received a monetary benefit and some household appliances to encourage their return.

The Iraqi government wants to close all the camps and has offered four million Iraqi dinars (about $3,050), a fridge, a stove, and a television to families who voluntarily return to their homes.

According to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, there are 1,053,038 internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country, primarily in Duhok, Erbil, Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Sulaimani provinces as of August. It has documented 4,897,129 people who have returned to their homes after the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS). 

So far this year, about 70,000 people have returned to their homes, according to the UN figures.

Despite the incentives, many families are reluctant to leave the camps because of continued violence in their hometowns, a lack of reconstruction following the destruction of their homes, and little in the way of basic services. Some who voluntarily left have been forced to return, unable to piece together the basics.

Many of the camps in the Kurdistan Region suffer from a lack of funds, as the humanitarian focus has shifted from emergency response to development and stabilization. 

Human rights advocates have expressed concern about Iraq’s push to close the camps, stressing that all returns must be safe, voluntary, and dignified.