Iraq increases funds to facilitate the return home of displaced Yezidis

On Wednesday, Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement (MoMD) announced that it will be providing 2 billion IQD as financial support, and facilitation to the Yezidi (Ezidi) Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to return to their homes in the liberated areas.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's Ministry of Migration and Displacement (MoMD) announced on Wednesday that it will be providing an additional 2 billion IQD as financial support and to facilitate the return home displaced members of the Yezidi (Ezidi) religious minority who were displaced by the Islamic State in 2014 and after.

The amount, about $1.68 million, appears a relatively small amount to convince tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to areas often still largely destroyed and without proper infrastructure, basic services, or adequate security. Any allotment at all, however, may be welcome to Ezidis living now in meager camps for years amid a national financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting sharp drop in oil prices.

Read More: Failing security, services keep Iraq's displaced Yezidis from returning home

The Higher Committee for Relief and Shelter IDPs, headed by Minister of Migration and Displacement Evan Faeq, who highlighted currently increased efforts to restore life and stability to the liberated areas and provide returnees with basic needs.

The committee decided to form “follow-up committees from the members of the higher Committee to supervise the implementation of the decisions of the Committee and provide services in addition to allocating funds for the Ezidis returning to their areas of origin to be distributed to encourage them to return,” a ministry statement read.

During the meeting, the committee called to the international community and humanitarian organizations to provide support and assistance to the effort, including financial resources to IDPs through the Ministry as motivation for them to return.

The meeting concluded with the minister directing the ministries and relevant authorities, education, internal health, municipalities, and the leadership of joint operations to provide services to the Ezidi towns and cities, furthermore to coordinate with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in facilitating the process of the return to their hometowns.

The minister also stated that the MoMD will continue to grant two million IQD ($1,680) to each Ezidi female survivor who had been kidnapped by the terrorist organization.

The emergence of the Islamic State and its violent assault on Shingal in 2014 led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Ezidis. Most of them fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled in neighbouring countries in the region or Western states.

Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone, where they experienced atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years. Militants subjected women and girls to sexual slavery, kidnapped children, forced religious conversions, executed scores of men, and abused, sold, and trafficked women across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria, actions now widely recognized as genocide.

Before the 2014 attack, there were roughly 550,000 Ezidis in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. As the terror group took over large swaths of territory in Nineveh province, 360,000 Ezidis escaped and found refuge elsewhere, according to the Kurdistan Region's Ezidi Rescue Office.

Editing by John J. Catherine