Guiding Principles and Strategy for the Rapid Response to Internally Displaced Iraqis Affected by Camp Closures and Consolidation Iraq Humanitarian Country Team, November 2020
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On 8 October 2020, the Government of Iraq announced that it would close all camps and informal sites hosting people internally displaced since 2014 by the end of the year. This re-started similar efforts made in previous years to consolidate and close camps. In early October 2020, approximately 250,000 of the remaining 1.3 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq lived in 39 formal IDP camps, plus a number of smaller informal sites. By the start of December, at least 16 camps and sites had been closed, according to MoMD statements. This caused approximately 34,000 people to rapidly return to their home districts or secondarily displace without advance notice, preparation for alternative arrangements, or attention to basic principles on internal displacement and durable solutions. Only three c
Iraq Humanitarian Needs Overview (February 2021)
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October 2020 to 18 January 2021
After the needs assessments and analysis underpinning this Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) concluded in early October 2020, the Government of Iraq (GoI) announced it would close all camps hosting internally displaced people by the end of the year. From mid-October 2020 to the time of HNO publication in mid-January 2021, 14 formal IDP camps in areas under GoI administration were closed, consolidated or reclassified as informal sites. As a result, 25 per cent (or 65,000) of the people whose needs are presented in this HNO as “in-camp IDPs” were no longer living in camps at the time of publication. In line with the trends observed since October 2020, some 43,000 are assumed to have become returnees and 22,000 out-of-camp IDPs.
Iraq: Humanitarian Bulletin, January 2021
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Closure of IDP Camps Continues in Federal Iraq
At the beginning of 2021, five formal camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) remained open in federal Iraq: Ameriyat Al-Fallujah in Al-Anbar, Jad ah 5 and Salamiyah camps in Ninewa, and the smaller Latifya 1 & 2 sites in Baghdad. These camps hosted 22,200 IDPs, some of whom had complex needs that presented barriers to safe, voluntary and dignified returns to their areas of origin.
After a short pause during December 2020, in January 2021, the Government of Iraq resumed IDP camp closures, starting with Salamiyah, which closed on 14 January. Approximately 900 people opted for facilitated returns to their areas of origin, assisted by the International Organization of Migration (IOM). An additional 7,400 felt unwilling or unable to safely return to and stay in their areas of origin, and opted instead to travel to new locations. A small number of people opted to transfer to the one r