IOM's latest report on the needs of returned displaced Iraqis says that going back home is presenting returnees with a new set of challenges that are almost as daunting as those when they were displaced.
Of the more than 58,000 returnee families (348,660 people) identified by IOM, the Organization has so far carried out in-depth assessments of just over 4,000 (nearly 25,000 people).
The assessment report found that food, non-food items and fuel are the priority needs, with the latter increasingly important as winter hits.
Employment too is a major concern with 34 per cent of the IOM-assessed families reporting that although they are able to work, they are unable to find it. Female headed households, representing 12 per cent of assessed families, are among the most vulnerable groups, with 70 per cent of them unable to work and 26 per cent able to work but again, unable to find employment.
Basic needs such as shelter, water, electricity and health care pose also pose serious concerns with 34 per cent of returnee families going back to homes that were partially or completely destroyed. Without employment or a reliable source of income, these families are in dire need of assistance to help them rebuild their homes.
Those that have shelter or homes, also face problems in access to potable water, fuel, electricity and health care. Seventy-five per cent of returnees have less than six hours of electricity a day while more than half of all returnees in Baghdad and 86 per cent in Kirkuk report not having access to health care.
Nearly 60 per cent of the identified 58,000 returns have been to Baghdad governorate, though significant numbers of returnees have also been located in Diyala and Anbar governorates. The vast majority, 94 per cent, of all returnees were internally displaced, with only 6 per cent identified as Iraqi refugees coming back from abroad.
Government efforts to encourage and support returns through the provision of a one-time grant of US$840 have only been partly successful. Of the IOM-assessed returnee families, only 44 per cent had applied for the grant with only 39 per cent actually receiving it. The vast majority of all the assessed families said they had received no other individual assistance.
Although the numbers of people returning home has been slowly increasing, they represent just a fraction of those that continue to be displaced, nearly four years since the bombing of the Samarra mosque. Nevertheless, IOM has found that of the nearly 230,000 displaced families assessed by IOM in Iraq, more than half have stated their intention to return to their former homes if return conditions, particularly security, continue to improve.
In a bid to help improve the lot of returning displaced families and to find long-term solutions for them, IOM has this year provided in-kind grants to 500 families to help them start their own businesses and to re-establish employment and income for them. Over the next 12 months, the Organization will target an additional 6,500 returnee families across the country for similar assistance. IOM is seeking further funding to assist more unemployed returnees to build a new business or to find a new job in an effort to find durable solutions to the displacement crisis in the country.
The Iraqi government has also established a Return Committee to help returnees rebuild effectively by intensifying coordination of UN agencies working in the country, each with their own specific expertise.
For further information, please contact Rex Alamban, IOM Iraq, Tel: +962-79-906-1779, email: ralamban@iom.int
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