SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Sulaimani governorate and the Iraqi ministry of migration and displaced on Sunday set a plan to return internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are settled in the province to their areas in other Iraqi provinces.
“We had a joint plan about the IDPs,” Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir said in a joint press conference with minister Ivan Fayaq on Sunday.
Abubakir said the displaced people should not be forced to return to their areas and should be voluntary.
“We have told them that we as Kurds have our doors open for guests and for their departure, they should themselves close the door,” he added.
The Iraqi minister said she had made a plan with the authorities in Sulaimani for the IDPs’ return after they noticed there was a “will” among the IDPs to go back to their homes.
“We noticed there was a big will among the displaced people to return to their own areas. Therefore, we held a meeting and made a plan for those who want to return,” Fayaq said.
Kurdistan Region’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC) said in December that the Kurdistan Region sheltered 992,732 displaced persons and refugees.
Twenty-nine percent of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees live in 35 camps in Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhok, according to the JCC.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were displaced throughout Iraq during the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) militant group, which overran a large swath of Iraqi territory in 2014.
Many displaced people are still unable to return to their places due to a lack of security, infrastructure, or employment opportunities.
As of August 31, there were 1,299,987 Iraqi displaced persons in the country, including 263,355 living in the camps, according to UNHCR.
