Yazidis make up the majority of IDPs yet to return home
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Most of the 125,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have yet to return to their homes are from the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar), spokesperson for Iraq’s migration and displaced ministry said on Sunday.
"This year, more than 6,000 families have returned and been registered as returnees," Ali Abbas, told Rudaw, adding that the number of IDPs still in camps - mostly located in the Kurdistan Region - is estimated at around 125,000 families.
"The camps are almost exclusively in the Kurdistan Region, with approximately 12 camps in Duhok and five camps in Erbil," he said.
The spokesperson detailed that the majority of the families currently residing in the Region or in camps in Duhok are Yazidis and from Shingal.
“We… try to create the right conditions for the return of these families to their areas, given that most of the families currently living in the region or in the camps in Duhok are from Sinjar,” Abbas said.
"We need to ensure that service efforts are completed, including water, electricity, and other services, so that we can promote a proper and voluntary return to their areas," he said of the government's efforts to encourage Yazidis to abandon life at the camps.
ISIS launched a brutal offensive across swathes of northern and western Iraq in June 2014. By August, the group began its onslaught on the Yazidi community in their heartland of Shingal in Nineveh province, killing an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Yazidi men and older women.
The jihadists also abducted some 7,000 women and girls for sexual slavery and human trafficking. Around 400,000 Yazidis were forced to flee, with most seeking refuge in the Kurdistan Region, according to data from the Office for Rescuing Abducted Yazidis, operating under the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
In 2020, the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed the Shingal Agreement to restore governance, security, and stability to the district and resolve a number of issues that have prevented the return of its inhabitants. Under that deal, Baghdad was to assume responsibility for security, expelling all armed groups and establishing a new armed force recruited from the local population.
The agreement has never been fully implemented and thousands of Yazidis are still unable to return home.
The migration ministry official, however, believes the situation in Shingal is "very good."
"I believe there is no obstacle preventing these families from returning," Abbas claimed. "Everyone knows that the situation in Sinjar is very good... the situation is normal. The families who preceded them returned more than two years ago, and now the situation is good and they are living their normal lives."
He went on to say that Baghdad constantly tries to "convince families to return, of course voluntarily, and we hope that these families will return and contribute to the reconstruction and reintegration into society."
According to the migration ministry, returning Yazidi families will be provided with four million dinars (around $3,000) in financial assistance, along with some essential household appliances including a refrigerator, stove, and television.
"More than 13,000 [Yazidi] families have returned, and are now living their normal lives in Sinjar, its districts, sub-districts, and villages."
[Source: Rûdaw English]
