Iraq – Cities as Home: Location Factsheets and Case Studies of Local Integration (2020)

This set of factsheets provides a localised understanding of how conducive each of the 15 urban locations in Iraq hosting the largest share of out-of-camp internally displaced persons (IDPs) are for local integration. The inclusion of four case studies provides further insights into particular locations of interest.  This interpretation of local integration takes into account the IASC Framework for Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons criteria and expands upon it to include more subjective measures as well as the wider community in which the displaced live. 2 IDP and host community population figures referenced in the factsheets and case studies come from the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix Masterlist Round 113, which corresponds to when nearly all data collection took place. Given COVID-19 restrictions, data collection in Sulaymaniyah City occurred in May 2020. The analysis presented here is predicated on the understanding of local integration as stemming from IDPs’ feelings of belonging to the hosting location as well as host community members’ acceptance of them over the long term and the regulatory landscape that surrounds both.1 It is based on an overall quantitative analysis of these locations, the household-level data collection of which took place between December 2019 and February 2020, conducted for the wider Cities as Home research project that identified the individual and place-related factors that drive or deter belonging and acceptance. These factors include societal, institutional, cultural, and socioeconomic indicators of the hosting locations and their populations. This analysis was further supplemented by detailing the instructions, regulations, and laws that are specifically related to the ability of non-camp IDPs to reside in cities in the country and enjoy the same rights as the host community.