By Anas al-Bar | 2023-09-15

In a small workshop in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, 42-year-old Shaima al-Jubouri works as a seamstress to support her family.

Al-Jubouri, who is better known as "Umm Haitham," was displaced from Ninawa province during the war to oust the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) from the country, and has since returned to her hometown.

For a long period, she lived in a displacement camp with her husband and five children, where they experienced "the harshness of life" before returning to their home and reintegrating into their community, she said.

At first she was not proficient at sewing, al-Jubouri told Al-Fassel.

But she developed her skills by participating in government-funded training courses designed to assist returning residents and enable them to take up income-generating professions.

She also benefited from assistance programs that enabled her to open a small workshop that produces children's clothing.

"I am happy with my work, which is my family's only source of livelihood," she said, expressing hope that her enterprise will grow and generate bigger profits.

'Closing the displacement file'

The Iraqi government is encouraging its internally displaced citizens to return voluntarily to their home areas and reintegrate into their communities so it can "close the displacement file" after the defeat of ISIS.

The plan aims to "draw the curtain on one of the most complex consequences of terrorism," officials told Al-Fassel, stressing however that the decision to return ultimately rests with the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Despite the success Iraq has achieved over the past years in returning large numbers of IDPs to their original places of residence, official reports indicate more than a million Iraqis remain internally displaced.

Most of those who remain displaced reside in 30 camps, the majority of which are situated in the north of the country.

"Solving the displacement problem occupies the government's attention," Iraqi Minister of Migration Evan Faeq Jabro told Al-Fassel, with governmental and non-governmental organizations working together to implement a national plan.

The Ministry of Migration and Displacement "does not force any IDP to return, but rather provides, within the framework of the plan, all facilities and humanitarian services to support return to their area, of their own volition."

Jabro said the ministry is working to "overcome any obstacles IDPs may encounter after their return and to provide what is required to ensure their stability and social integration."

The plan was designed in response to the need to create appropriate conditions, including financial support, for the reentry of returnees, she said.

"There are about 14,000 returning families who have been included in the return grant, which is provided to strengthen the steadfastness of the returnees and help them cope with the burdens of life," she said.

The grant allocates each eligible family 1.5 million IQD (about $1,146).

Training programs for returnees

The Iraqi government also supports the enrollment of returnees in the training programs that it organizes for them to gain experience in new professions.

The most recent of these programs, for returning women in Anbar province, concluded August 29, with 150 women participating in three training courses in sewing, pastry-making and hairdressing.

Other programs within the plan seek to improve the living conditions of returning families and develop the economies of local communities, with focus on financing any small enterprise these families plan to establish.

Officials said they hope about 1,000 families -- especially the most vulnerable returnees -- will benefit this year from the soft financing and lending program, to establish livelihoods and strengthen community cohesion.

In cooperation with international partners, Iraq is helping returnees restore and repair houses destroyed by ISIS, which is the biggest obstacle hindering the return of thousands of IDPs who remain in the camps.

More than 35,000 destroyed houses have been rehabilitated since ISIS's territorial defeat in Iraq in 2017, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in an April 6 report.

UNDP-supported reintegration efforts succeeded in enabling 9,000 internally displaced families to return to their communities, it said.

On August 29, the government approved a proposal submitted by Jabro that includes granting returning families a 50% discount on the price of units in government housing complexes being built in the liberated provinces.

The decision falls within the scope of the package of incentive services and measures provided as part of the voluntary return plan.