Additional information Iraq
Situation in Iraq
In 2014, the Islamic State marched into Iraq from Syria, took over sections of Anbar province, and captured Mosul in June. Former President Obama approved air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, and the U.S. created an international coalition of almost 80 countries to counter the Islamic State. Regional forces, including up to 30,000 Iranian troops, supported the Iraqi army, local tribes, and the Kurdish Peshmerga to retake land from ISIS. Tikrit was retaken in April 2015, Ramadi in December 2015, Fallujah in June 2016, and Mosul in July 2017. In December 2017, Iraq declared victory over IS.
The outcome of decades of violence and conflict in the region is the refugee crisis. The Islamic State (ISIS) attacks in northern Iraq in 2014 sparked an increase in violence. As a result of the fighting, millions of families (approx. 3 million) were displaced and fifty percent of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed. According to reports 260,000 have fled to neighboring nations and at least 1.5 million have taken safety in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where one in four persons is a refugee or Internally displaced person (IDP). This conflict has mainly affected children, leaving an entire generation traumatized and trying to survive in extraordinarily harsh conditions. Children make up around half of all internally displaced individuals in Iraq. They were forced to grow up in exile, frequently apart from their families, and were especially vulnerable to brutality, forced early marriage, recruitment into armed groups, exploitation, and psychological distress. In November 2018, an estimated 2.1 million children were at risk of being denied access to basic services owing to a lack of civil documentation, and approximately 2.6 million were not attending school.
Now, as it tries to recover from the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iraq is still confronting a major antagonism at the heart of its confessional political life, in which sectarian militias, backed by various regional actors, prevent peace. All these, combined with the slow oil market, on which the economy of the country depends, the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, the side effects from the ongoing neighboring Syrian conflict, the air and land Turkish operations in Northern Iraq as well as the recent anti-regime protests have caused instability.
The top three humanitarian concerns in Iraq are protection, access to basic amenities, and livelihood prospects. Living conditions are outstandingly poor for many relocated families. They are struggling to make ends meet and face significant challenges due to a lack of essential amenities, shattered infrastructure, and economic possibilities. Unfortunately, these difficulties frequently result in further displacements. More than 2.3 million people require basic amenities such as food, safe water, sanitation, and proper housing.
The Iraqi diaspora has increased significantly over the past decades as people fled persecutions and wars.
Between 2015 and 2016, more than 117,000 Iraqis followed the Eastern Mediterranean route, in order to arrive to Europe. The majority of the people embarked on a dangerous journey, travelling to Greece by sea in makeshift boats. According to Eurostat in 2015, 121,535 Iraqi asylum applications were submitted to European countries, a number that increased to 126,915 in 2016, making Iraqis the 3rd largest national group looking for asylum. These numbers, however, might be even higher as many people remained unregistered.
Many of the immigrants were already displaced within their country, staying in refugee camps and informal settlements in urban areas of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. The majority of the immigrants were young male adults under the age of 35 trying to find security and avoid conflicts. Among the most desired destinations apart from Germany (37%), the Netherlands (11%) and the United Kingdom (11%) were Austria, Finland and Sweden, as they were seen as ‘safe countries’, and because there were family members already residing there. However, at least 30% were not able to reach their intended country of destination.
The main drive behind the Iraqi migration is conflict, which had an immediate impact on the people’s lives making it impossible for them to continue living in their area of origin. Most of them faced the severe effects of wars, such as losing family members, not having access to basic goods, including food and water, and of course services, like health and education. Another significant factor that caused people to flee was individual persecution, as many of them received threats and they felt that their life was in danger.
International Organization for Migration (Iraq Mission), IOM Iraq. (2016). Migration Flows from Iraq
to Europe: Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). IOM Iraq.
