More than 180 Yazidis return to Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 180 Yazidis who had sheltered in camps in Duhok province for nearly a decade returned to their homes in Shingal, Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement announced on Friday. 

“Migration and Displacement Minister Evan Faeq Gabro, announced the return of 189 displaced Yazidis from the displacement camps in Duhok province to their original areas of residence in the town of Sinjar,” read a statement from the ministry, using another name for Shingal.

The statement added that the return of the Yazidis to their homes is part of government efforts to close the file on internal displacement. According to United Nations figures, 1.17 million Iraqis are internally displaced across the country, down from more than 3.2 million in 2015.

When Islamic State (ISIS) militants captured the Shingal area in 2014, they committed heinous atrocities that constitute genocide against the minority Yazidis, including massacres and sexual violence. More than 400,000 Yazidis were forced to flee to displacement camps, mainly in the Kurdistan Region. 

Minister Gabro said the government will continue registering families who wish to voluntarily return to their areas and will provide facilities and basic necessities. 

Though ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, concerns over living conditions, lack of security, political disputes, and slow reconstruction have meant most families cannot return to their homes.

In June, 87 Yazidis returned from Duhok’s Sharia camp to Shingal under a program run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC). However, the head of JCC, Srwa Rasul, told Rudaw at the time that she feared the families could be displaced again because of poor conditions in Shingal.

According to IOM, around 80 percent of Shingal’s public infrastructure and 70 percent of civilian homes were destroyed during the war with ISIS between 2014 and 2017. Basic services such as electricity and water are not consistently available, and numerous health and education facilities are yet to be rebuilt. 

There is a myriad of armed forces in the Shingal area with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A 2020 deal between Baghdad and Erbil to secure and govern Shingal has not been fully implemented.

In a report last month, Human Rights Watch slammed Iraqi authorities for failing to adequately compensate thousands of Yazidi families who bore the brunt of ISIS atrocities.