GENERAL CONTEXT
Within a four month span (June 2014-August 2014) an extremist armed group took over large tracts of territory within Ninewa governorate. Some of these areas included the disputed internal border (DIBs) areas, which is a factor in the ability of some displaced persons from these areas being able or willing to return. The Ministry of Planning estimates that in 2014 Ninewa had a population of about 3,100,000 people (51% female and 49% male), with 54% of these residing in the capital Mosul, 14% in Tel afar and Sinjar with about 9% of the population. With the advance of the extremist group it is estimated that approximately 400,000 people fled parts of – Tal Afar, Tilkaif, Mosul, Sinjar, Ba’aj, Hatra, Shikhan and Hamdaniya. Akre was not invaded and remained under government control. Parts of Sheikhan were however quickly retaken, and along with Akre are currently under the de-facto administrative control of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The advance of the extremists into Ninewa affected all groups, including ethnic and religious minorities and anyone perceived as disloyal to the extremists for example those who worked for the government as civil servants and in particular police and military personnel. Masses of people fled occupied areas to relatively safer areas; a majority of the minority groups fled towards the Kurdistan Region of Iraq while others fled southwards to other governorates. The extremist group perpetrated gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law in areas they took over including killings, torture, abductions. For example, when the extremists took over Sinjar, home to the Yazidis, the extremist group perpetrated mass killings and abducted and enslaved women and children. Similar atrocities against the Yazidis across the border in Syria have been determined to amount to the crime of genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes. Thousands of Yazidi managed to flee towards the Sinjar Mountain and then eventually settled in host community or IDP camps in Dohuk. Thousands of Christians also fled towards the KRI. By the end of 2015 Kurdish security forces (Peshmerga) had retaken Sinjar and parts of Tal Afar, TilKaif and Hamdaniya. The other areas remained under the control of extremists and inaccessible to humanitarian actors.
Since early 2016, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have engaged in several military campaigns to dislodge and retake territory from extremist armed groups starting in Anbar before heading northwards on the Mosul corridor and ultimately launching operations to retake Mosul in October 2016, together with Kurdish security forces and coalition partners. In November 2016 pro-government armed groups started surrounding Tal Afar and recaptured the Tal Afar air base. Despite the military success in retaking cities, towns and villages, the security and protection environment remains volatile with serious protection risks for displaced Iraqis and those that have returned to their areas of origin.
However despite the serious security and protection concerns in retaken areas, there have been high rates of premature return to retaken areas due to a number of factors including pressures to return, the de-facto encampment policy and severe restrictions of movement, leaving displaced persons to prefer early returns as opposed to remaining in basic IDP camps.
In many retaken areas, even when returns are voluntary, conditions are still not suitable for dignified, safe and sustainable returns due to continuing attacks by armed groups, high risk of death/injury from explosive hazards/IEDs, presence of militias, tribal conflicts, extensive property destructions, lack of basic services and critical infrastructure. To date, MOMD estimates that approximately 70,400 IDPs have returned to Ninewa between 26 October 2016 and 28 February 2017. However, IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) reports that 34,372 families (206,232 individuals) have returned over the same period. The reports and information gathered from IDPs who have returned from Khazer and Hasansham IDP camps indicates that the majority of returnees have returned to Mosul city, Gogachly and Qayyarah.
