IRBIL, IRAQ (AP) – The United Nations (UN) expressed concern on Wednesday over the Iraqi authorities’ swift closure this week of a displacement camp that had housed more than 300 families with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State (IS) group.
The UN office in Baghdad said in a statement that the closure the previous day of the camp known as Jadah 5 in the town of Qayyarah in the country’s north was done “without adequate notification or preparation”.
Aid workers, who had also criticised the closure as hasty and chaotic, said authorities had notified camp residents on Monday that they had to leave by Wednesday – a day before the beginning of the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the holiday that follows the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.
Initially, the migration and displacement ministry had set a closure deadline for May. Jadah 5 was one of the last remaining camps for the displaced in Iraq, which still has some where 1.2 million people internally displaced after years of conflict.
Aid groups have pushed back against their closures, fearing that vulnerable families, including many women and children, would struggle to integrate in their hometowns and would be stigmatised for their perceived or real affiliation with IS militants. Camp residents had said they fear violence from militias and tribes if they go back to their towns of origin.
“The humanitarian community is concerned by the impact of the closure of the camp,” the UN office said and reiterated the UN’s long and principled support for “voluntary, informed, safe and dignified return of all” internally displaced persons.
A spokesman for the ministry Ali Abbas said that each family was given IQD1,500,000 (about USD1,030) to find new housing. He did not why the deadline was pushed up.
Iraqi authorities in late 2020 began a push to close all displacement camps across the country, hoping it would boost reconstruction efforts that have lagged, years after the defeat of IS.
