Iraq - IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has identified over one million returnees since the beginning of the conflict in 2014 – the year in which Mosul was captured by ISIL.

To date, the conflict has resulted in the forced displacement of over 3.2 million people, representing the largest displacement crisis in Iraq's history.

As land is being retaken in current military operations which began on 17 October, IOM has identified significant return trends, which will help the government and humanitarian agencies to prepare for a growing number of people likely to return to their homes in the coming year.

On Thursday, 27 October, IOM Iraq’s DTM released a report “Return Location Assessment Report” on returnees, following up on an initial assessment carried out in April and May of 2016.

Key findings include:

• The vast majority of returnees are concentrated in three governorates: Salah al-Din (53 percent), Ninewa (24 percent) and Diyala (15 percent).
• The three most important reported reasons for return are: the possibility to resume economic activities (livelihoods) (35 percent); safe conditions in the area of return (25 percent); and a decision to stay after checking the conditions on the ground (16 percent).
• Most returnees (95 percent) are reported to have returned permanently.
• The majority of the returnees have returned to their habitual residences. However, 12 percent of all returnees have had to settle in other shelter types.
• The residential conditions of returnee locations range from almost total devastation to perfectly intact.
• The top five needs among returnees are: drinking water (30 percent); food (19 percent); health care (17 percent); access to income (11 percent); shelter (8 percent).
• Returnees face risks such as physical danger, legal entanglements with the local authorities, threats from armed groups, and even targeted violence on the basis of ethno-religious affiliations.
• Returnees find information about the possibility to return through different social media (31.1 percent), through relatives, friends, or neighbors in the place of return (23.5 percent), and through government sources (21.2 percent).

“It is critical that we take into serious consideration the needs of people returning to their homes, particularly if they are returning to areas that are not entirely stable. We must not only place IDP safety and accountability to affected populations at the heart of our current interventions at sites of displacement, but also look at mid and long term planning in return areas,” says IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Weiss.

Through the DTM, IOM is able to providing baseline, multi-sectoral information to underpin next year’s humanitarian planning by providing an indication of where people are moving.

However, strategies and funding in terms of assisting returnees is still lacking, as returning populations have been largely overlooked, despite being a cutting issue that is of concern to all partners and all sectors, because of the intense focus on people who are being currently displaced.

IOM is the lead agency for the Returns Working Group (RWG), a coalition of NGOs, INGOs and UN agencies which develops guidance for authorities and partners in governorates affected by high movements of return.

The RWG coordinates efforts on the ground to ensure returns are safe, voluntary and dignified. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) who wish to return must be given the tools to make an informed decision about whether to return to their place of origin, locally integrate or resettle elsewhere in the country.

The RWG’s strategy seeks to address emergency needs related to return, but also to plan for the mid and long term to secure returnees’ sustainable access to land, food and income generating activities in their areas of origin.

A majority of returnees currently live under precarious conditions, with insufficient support required to ensure progress towards durable solutions. Durable solutions are achieved when IDPs who have returned no longer require specific assistance and can enjoy their human rights without discrimination as a result of displacement.

For further information, please contact Jennifer Sparks, at IOM Erbil, Tel: +964.751 740 1642, Email: jsparks@iom.int or Joel Millman, Mobile: 41 79 103 87 20, Email: jmillman@iom.int