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Iraq makes major progress in closing camps for the displaced

After six years of displacement, Iraq has closed around 62% of its remaining camps for internally displaced persons over the past six months and is planning to close all of them this year.
Families wait for food distribution at the Hasansham camp for internally displaced people in northern Iraq on December 10, 2020. - Rights groups and others -- including the International Organisation for Migration -- are worried about displaced families who stand accused of links to IS, sometimes falsely, and may face violent retribution if sent home. (Photo by FLORENT VERGNES / AFP) (Photo by FLORENT VERGNES/AFP via Getty Images)

Three years after Iraq officially declared victory over the Islamic State (IS), a new batch of over 3,000 of those displaced by the terror group have returned to their homes from Salamiyah camp in Ninevah governorate. The development is part of Iraq's Ministry of Migration and Displacement plan to close this camp and others, the ministry announced Jan. 9. The ministry is planning to close all the displacement camps across Iraq this year.

“This is the first government to create a comprehensive plan to bring the displaced persons back to their areas of origin,” said Minister of Migration and Displacement Ivan Faiek Jabru, one of three female ministers in Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government. 

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