8 years after Mosul’s fall 30 percent of its IDPs remain in Kurdistan

Al-Jibouri pointed out that “the Iraqi government repeatedly called on the KRG to close the camps in the region and forcibly send the displaced people back to their homes, but the KRG has made it clear that they will never forcibly send people back to their homes against their wishes.”
Amina Jasim, a single mother from Mosul, with her children at the Bahirka camp, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, June 10, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
Amina Jasim, a single mother from Mosul, with her children at the Bahirka camp, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, June 10, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Eight years after the fall of Mosul to ISIS militants, thirty percent of the city's displaced still reside in the Kurdistan Region and do not want to return home due to the lack of security, services, and job opportunities. 

According to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) data, thirty percent of the displaced people from Mosul city still reside in the Kurdistan Region, including 800 families in Erbil’s Bahirka camp. 

The total number of displaced Iraqi families in the Bahirka camp is 1326. 

“We don’t want to go back to Mosul because there are no services in the city, including water, electricity, job opportunities, or houses to live in,” Abu Hashim Al-Jibouri, a displaced man from Mosul living in the Bahirka camp, told Kurdistan 24. 

“The Iraqi government called on us to go back to Mosul, but we rejected that call,” he added. “However, the KRG gave us the freedom of deciding what is best for us -- staying in the Kurdistan Region or going back to Mosul.” 

Al-Jibouri pointed out that “the Iraqi government repeatedly called on the KRG to close the camps in the region and forcibly send the displaced people back to their homes, but the KRG has made it clear that they will never forcibly send people back to their homes against their wishes.” 

Read More: Camps to remain open in the Kurdistan Region: official

The Bahirka camp includes many single mothers who leave the camp for work and are the sole breadwinners for their families. 

“How can I go back with seven children to Mosul city where there is no security, services, or job opportunities,” said Amina Jasim, a displaced single mother from Mosul living in Bahirka Camp, told Kurdistan 24. “Here, I leave the camp daily to work and make a living.”

Following the ISIS invasion of Iraq and the fall of Mosul in 2014, thousands of families fled to the Kurdistan Region’s provinces. They are divided between those who went to the camps and those with a better economic situation who found places to live in Kurdistan’s cities.