Kurdistan Region supports ‘voluntary return’ of IDPs, says interior ministry

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region maintains its long-standing support for the voluntary and dignified return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), currently sheltered in refugee camps in the Kurdistan Region, a statement from the Ministry of Interior read.

The statement was in response to remarks by the Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displaced, Ivan Faiek Jabru, during a recent interview with Al Rasheed TV, where she urged the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “allow” the displaced population to return to their places of origin.

“The Kurdistan Region has always supported a dignified and voluntary return of the IDPs to their places of origin,” the Interior Ministry said, adding the population has fled their areas due to terror, sectarianism, discrimination, and the lack of security.

Following the ISIS offensive in 2014, thousands of civilians sought sanctuary in the Kurdistan Region, including Yezidis, who faced atrocities at the hands of the terror group.

The Region hosted nearly two million IDPs and refugees at the beginning of the humanitarian crisis.

The government bears a “significant cost” of maintaining tens of displaced camps and hosting hundreds of thousands of IDPs, the ministry added. In fact, the implementation of the Erbil-Baghdad agreement is the “best roadmap” to return the IDPs and normalize their lives, the ministry noted. 

The presence of “outlawed forces” in the Yezidi-majority town of Sinjar and the failure in implementing the agreement struck between Erbil and Baghdad in September 2020 to normalize the state of affairs in the area are the “main hurdles” of the IDPs return.

The ministry described Gabro’s remarks as “irresponsible and baseless.”

While the Iraqi budget does not include funding to implement the Sinjar agreement, funds have been allocated to militia forces in the name of reconstruction,” it added.