Returning millions of displaced Iraqis home ahead of May elections a priority: Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration on Thursday announced it would launch efforts to facilitate the return of some 2.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to newly-liberated areas, three months ahead of the country’s general elections.

Nearly four million Iraqis were displaced when the Islamic State (IS) emerged in northern Iraq in mid-2014, fleeing to areas across the country and the Kurdistan Region.

After three years of fighting, the Iraqi government declared ‘final victory’ in 2017 and Baghdad is now seeking to repatriate IDPs despite warnings by international organizations against forcible returns to areas which have not yet been secured.

In a statement on its website, the Ministry of Displacement and Migration said it would be working in cooperation with security and department officials to help over two million Iraqis return home.

The Ministry did not provide the number of remaining IDPs, some of whom still live in tents while others are spread across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Region alone received roughly 1.5 million IDPs.

“The return of families to their areas are continuing at a very high pace, especially in the Anbar and Nineveh provinces,” the minister was quoted as saying.

He added that “appropriate measures” were allegedly also in place to facilitate the return of Kurds who fled the disputed towns of Hawija, Daquq and Tuz Khurmato after Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias attacked the province of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Sunni parties in Baghdad caution the country is not ready to hold elections on May 12 as most of the displaced persons have yet to return to their newly liberated areas.

It is unclear whether the elections will be successfully held in all provinces of Iraq, especially in areas where people are struggling to rebuild and recover from the war.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recently declared his government was determined to return all those displaced to their homes and guarantee their right to participate in the elections.

The elections are scheduled for May 12 and will include the Kurdistan Region.