Iraq – Emergency Tracking: Displacement and returns to Sinjar and Al-Ba'aj districts (8 June - 10 July 2020)

Between 4 June and 10 July 2020, DTM tracked 2,169 individuals (542 families) returning to Sinjar and Al-Ba’aj districts in Iraq’s Ninewa governorate. This brings the total number of individuals that have returned to these districts to 8,581 (1,567 families) since data collection commenced on 8 June.

Of those individuals who moved back between 4 and 10 July, a total of 1,963 were recorded in Sinjar (91%) and 206 were recorded in Al-Ba’aj (9%)—broadly consistent with the rates of individuals’ districts of arrival since 8 June.

The most common sub-district of arrival was Al-Shamal with 1,221 individuals (56%), followed by Markaz Sinjar with 599 individuals (28%). Together, these two sub-districts comprise 84% of all individuals recorded as having arrived to Sinjar and Al-Ba’aj since data collection commenced on 8 June.

Of those individuals identified between 4 and 10 July, 1,462 were recorded as returnees (67%), while 707 were recorded as out-of-camp IDPs (33%).

Between 4 and 10 July, a total of 1,948 individuals were recorded as having departed from Dahuk governorate (90%)—representing a 9% increase to the proportion of individuals that came from there in the previous period (27 June – 3 July). As with all previous rounds, between 4 and 10 July, almost all individuals from Dahuk were recorded as coming from from Sumel (74%) and Zakho (23%) districts.

Further, only 221 individuals were recorded as having come from Ninewa governorate (10%)—mainly from Al-Shikhan (134 individuals) and Sinjar (51 individuals). This is significantly lower than the overall proportion of individuals recorded as having come from Ninewa since data collection commenced on 8 June (25%). No individuals were recorded as having come from Erbil in this round.

Since 8 June, the majority of individuals have departed from Sumel (53%) and Zakho (27%).

To provide an element of comparison and better understand the scale of these returns, note that for the reporting period of May-June 2019, DTM recorded 1,416 individuals returning to Sinjar (1,224 as returnees and 192 as IDPs) and 96 to Al-Ba’aj (66 as returnees and 30 as IDPs).