Iraq: Response still centred on return despite increasing IDP demands for local integration

With the level of violence declining to levels unseen since the American-led intervention in 2003, Iraq is in 2011 moving away from an emergency situation to a development phase. However, new displacement still occurs and a large number of people have unmet humanitarian needs. The new government of Iraq (GoI) formed at the beginning of 2011 quickly launched a plan to address the displacement situation. The international community, led by the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) has developed a Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) to coordinate the delivery of UN assistance from 2011 to 2014.

This new phase ushers in numerous challenges. As development plans are being drafted, the Iraqi state is still struggling with a political system which is neither inclusive nor trans-parent, and a centralised and inefficient public sector. Rule of law remains weak, massive corruption is pervasive and t human rights violations persist. Humanitarian organisations have only a partial view of the situation and needs of most Iraqis, and little opportunity to ensure beneficiaries participate in policy-making, due to security rules which have dramatically curtailed their presence outside limited areas.

Internal displacement in Iraq has followed many diverse causes, in a variety of locations and periods. Those displaced by the previous Ba’ath regime were principally from the rural Kurdish north and Shi’a south, whereas the sectarian violence which broke out following the bombing of the Askari mosque in February 2006 has mainly displaced people from the urban centres of Baghdad, Ninewa, and Diyala. The longer-term internally displaced people (IDPs) have often been perceived as victims requiring redress for past injustices, and those more recently displaced as vulnerable people in need of assistance.

At a time when several countries in the Middle East have been rocked by socio-political upheaval, there are concerns that funding shortfalls could prevent the delivery of effective assistance in Iraq. Yet violence in Iraq remains comparatively high and continues to force people from their homes. Overall, only a very small fraction of all IDPs have returned to their homes or achieved durable solutions elsewhere.