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Iraq + 2 more

UNHCR Iraq Protection Update - October 2018

Attachments

Highlights

  • Although over 3,000 families departed camps across Iraq in October, over 2,000 families arrived in camps – nearly half had previously been displaced.
  • Attacks in Kirkuk Governorate have resulted in new displacement.
  • IDPs lacking legal documents have been reluctant to return home over fears of arbitrary arrest in their areas of origin or while transiting.

Displacement

Based on data provided by the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster, 3,121 families departed camps across Iraq during October, but 2,384 families arrived in the camps. Of these, 883 families were in secondary displacement. A total of 1,302 families had arrived to Mosul camps, of which the vast majority (53%) reported displacement due to financial/economic reasons, such as a lack of livelihood opportunities and the overall inability to pay rent. Some 15 per cent reported destruction and damaged houses as the reason for displacement, while four per cent cited safety concerns in their areas of origin or previous location of displacement.

Ongoing insecurity and attacks by extremists in Kirkuk Governorate have resulted in new displacement. During the second week of October, 200 families from Ghuraib Ulia village in Hawiga fled to Al Abassi city and surrounding villages. Similarly, on 4 October, 110 families were displaced from Al-Nida village in Baladroz district; 40 families fled to Kannan in Baquba, where they are staying with relatives while the rest have been dispersed in Mindili, and a few to Muqdadiya district.
Protection partners are monitoring the situation and have assessed the needs of the IDPs, which include legal assistance and psychosocial support (PSS).

There have been reports in Anbar and Ninewa governorates of security actors harassing females at checkpoints while exiting or entering camps or inside the camps. Protection partners in Jeddah camps in Ninewa Governorate also continue to report the presence of armed actors in the camp, particularly members of government-affiliated armed groups after many humanitarian actors depart at the end of each day. IDPs said they are reluctant to report these incidents as they fear they might be forced to leave the camps.

In some camps in Anbar and Kirkuk, it is mandatory for IDPs to leave their identification documents at checkpoints before departing the camps while in other locations, such as Jeddah camps, some IDPs reported that they cannot leave the camp without documentation as they fear arbitrary arrest. Aside from procedures to control the day-to-day movement of IDPs in and out of camps, IDPs in Kilo 18 and Amriyeat Al Fallujah (AAF) camps in Anbar continue to report restrictions of movement. IDPs without legal documentation are particularly affected. This continues to be a key push factor for IDPs departing camps.

During mid-October, security actors relocated 11 IDPs families from Bzebiz camp in Baghdad Governorate to AAF camps. They also confiscated the identity documents of all family members after the relocation and denied them camp resident cards (security cards). The reason for the evictions allegedly were the link of those families to perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in Fallujah on 6 October. Security actors had arrested male family members in Bzebiz camp on the same day of the relocation.