In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iraqi authorities have imposed mobility restrictions and public health measures in March 2020 aimed at curbing the spread of the pandemic. These measures include restrictions on travel and limitations on freedom of movement, such as the closure of airports and points of entry (PoEs) along land borders and maritime boundaries, as well as domestic movement restrictions. Moreover, different preventive healthcare measures have been implemented across the country, such as the distribution of public awareness materials, health screening processes and the establishment of handwashing stations at border points.

IOM Iraq’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) assessed 28 locations between 20 April and 4 May 2020, of which 13 were reported as closed, 7 partially closed, and 8 open only for commercial traffic. This report presents an overview of mobility restrictions and health measures for the 13 monitored PoE which have remained partially open, as well as for Iraq in general.

CONTEXT With the end of the conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), protracted displacement has come to characterize the post-conflict environment in Iraq. Around 1.2 million people remain internally displaced, nearly all of whom fled their areas of origin more than three years ago. In light of the above, it is essential to advance durable solutions to displacement in Iraq through improving the living conditions that will enable internally displaced persons (IDPs) to voluntarily take the first steps towards return, local integration or settlement in new locations.

DATA COLLECTION APPROACH

The Displacement Index (DI) is a tool designed to measure and monitor the living conditions of IDPs. Data collection for the DI take place across 18 governorates, 94 districts and around 2,000 locations of displacement in Iraq. The unit of the analysis is the location, which can be a town, village or neighbourhood in a city. Data is collected through IOM’s Rapid Assessment and Response Teams (RARTs), composed of over 80 staff members deployed across Iraq (20% of enumerators are female). IOM’s RARTs collect data through structured interviews with KIs using a large, well-established network of over 2,000 KIs (5% are female) that includes community leaders, mukhtars, local authorities and security forces.

As part of DTM’s migration monitoring activities, the Regional Evidence for Migration Analysis and Policy (REMAP) has been implemented in Iraq since 2019 in response to the critical need to collect and analyze information on displacement and human mobility. The aim of the activity is to strengthen evidencebased formulation and implementation of humanitarian and development policy and programming on migration and forced displacement in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.

Following the activities of the REMAP project, DTM collected information on the numbers and locations of mobile population groups, in the current case Iraqis who have moved abroad. This document provides an overview of locations hosting either IDPs or returnees in which Iraqis have departed for another country in the year prior to the assessment, with the intention to emigrate. The data presented in this factsheet is taken from the Integrated Location Assessment (ILA) – Round V (completed from 1 July to 31 August 2020). ILA V provides an in-depth look into the situation of displaced and returning populations across Iraq, with a particular focus on the profiling of the locations in which these groups live. The data collected includes the demographic composition of locations, state of infrastructure, services, security, social cohesion and movement intentions for IDPs, and covers both in-camp and out-of-camp settings.

Data collection for ILA V was conducted through a network of key informants across 3,810 non-camp locations hosting either IDPs or returnees (or both).
These key informants were asked about the presence of foreigners, with the option of providing the population number of these persons.

Between 30 November and 6 December 2020, a total of 531 households (2,484 individuals) have been recorded as arriving to non-camp settings following the camp closures that are currently taking place. A total of 4,735 households (23,158 individuals) have been recorded as arriving to non-camp settings since the camp closures began in mid-October. These households have arrived to the governorates of Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, Erbil, Kerbala, Kirkuk, Ninewa, and Salah al-Din. Of the total recorded arrivals since 18 October 2020, 1,311 households (28%) have not returned to their location of origin and are now considered to be secondarily displaced, while 3,424 households (72%) have returned to their respective village or neighborhood of origin and are considered to be returnees.

An update to the joint survey by the Iraq Information Centre (IIC), CCCM and Protection Clusters highlights that 58% of the 976 surveyed households who departed camps, primarily from Hamam Al Alil 2 camp in Ninewa, as well as some households from camps in Diyala and Anbar, have returned to their area of origin, a proportion that reflects the data collected by DTM in areas of arrival. Among the total assessed households, it was further determined by IIC that 25% of them did not return to their habitual residence. The primary reasons given by respondents during the survey for not returning to areas of origin were damaged shelter, lack of livelihood opportunities and unstable security situation in the area of origin. Ninety-five per cent (95%) of the households surveyed intend to remain at their current location in the month following data collection.

On 26 October 2021 an attack was launched in several villlages in Muqdadiya district of Diyala governorate, carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). As a result of this attack, DTM recorded 317 families (1,962 individuals) having displaced from Muqdadiya district of Diyala governorate. Of these, 280 families are displaced in Al Gatoon-Al Rahma, Ba’quba district, 40 families are displaced in Sheikh Jalil village, Khanaqin district, both in the governorate of Diyala, and 7 families are displaced in Al Mechanic (Al Hader)-830 in Karkh district of Baghdad.

Additionally, immediately following the attack nine families were displaced to Jalawla subdistrict of Muqdadiya district but have since left the area of displacement to attempt to return. The majority of the displaced families are living with the host community or in temporary rented accommodation in the areas of displacement.

In similar attacks that have taken place earlier this year, DTM has recorded a further 94 families (564 individuals) that were displaced between July and September from Al-Khalis and Ba’quba districts of Diyala governorate to other areas of the districts and continue to be displaced as of 7 November 2021.

Data is collected through IOM’s Rapid Assessment and Response Teams (RARTs), who are deployed across Iraq (20% of enumerators are female). IOM’s RARTs collect data through interviews with key informants utilising a large, well-established network of over 9,500 key informants that includes community leaders, mukhtars, local authorities and security forces.

The Return Index is a tool designed to measure the severity of condi- tions in locations of return. The Return Index is based on 16 indicators divided into two scales: Scale 1, on livelihoods and basic services, and Scale 2, centered around social cohesion and safety perceptions. A regression model is used to assess the impact of each of the indica- tors in facilitating or preventing returns. The index ranges from 0 (all essential conditions for return are met) to 100 (no essential condi- tions for return are met). Higher scores denote more severe living conditions for returnees. The scores of the severity index are grouped into three categories: low, medium and high (which also includes very high). Refer to the “Methodological Overview” for more details on the methodology.

The Returns in Iraq: 2021 Overview provides an analysis of returns across the country. The first section of this report presents an overview of returns in 2021. The second considers conditions for returnees across all governorates of return at the end of 2021 and examines the relationship between the rate of return and the severity of those conditions. The third section outlines the areas of no return and newly assessed locations recorded by IOM’s Rapid Assessment and Response Teams (RARTs), and the returnee population living in critical shelters. The final section presents a more granular analysis of the factors driving severity in subdistricts of return which are designated as ‘hotspots’, and how these factors changed between December 2020 and December 2021.

Nearly two years after the official end of the conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), more than 4.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their places of origin across eight governorates in Iraq. The Return Index measures the severity of physical and social conditions in the locations to which they are returning. This third Thematic Series report focuses on the dynamics and drivers of re-displacement, a type of secondary displacement referring specifically to “IDPs who return to their areas of origin but are unable to achieve sustainable solutions and are consequently displaced again to their first place of displacement or to a new location of displacement.” Despite some gradual improvements of conditions in return areas in Iraq, if local conditions in origin remain severe for a long period of time or undergo a sudden deterioration, returns may not be sustainable. It is in these contexts that returnee families may face pressures to leave again – in other words, they may re-displace. This report explores which push factors play a role, and to what degree, in making a location more likely to have families re-displacing, through correlating the data on locations with secondary displacement with Return Index indicators on the locations’ physical and social conditions.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries, territories and areas (C/T/As) have sought to prevent the virus’ spread through a broad array of travel measures. These have included both travel restrictions, such as bans on arrivals or visa cancellations for travellers from particular jurisdictions, and health requirements, such as quarantine requirements, testing and – most recently, in some C/T/As – vaccination and recovery certificates. These measures have had different goals, from seeking to prevent the virus arriving at all (containment), to postponing its arrival (delay), to minimizing the number of infections (mitigation). Initially, travel restrictions, alongside widespread closures of airports and other points of entry, were designed to halt all forms of human movement in their tracks. But governments have increasingly sought to safely restart cross-border mobility of all types and, thus, many of the newest rules seek to safely expand the groups who are able to travel or replace blunt entry bans with measures to minimize the risk of the virus spreading.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been tracking travel measures and border closures since March 2020. This study is the result of collaboration between IOM and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) to analyse the implications of these data and, in particular, to track on an annual basis the impact of COVID-19 on cross-border mobility.

The sheer volume of travel measures in play – more than 100,000 as of the end of 2021 – continues to chill cross-border mobility. It is striking that this picture remained largely unchanged in the face of huge shifts in the epidemiological situation over the course of 2021, which saw peaks and troughs in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases globally and within C/T/As, shaped by outbreaks of new variants of the virus as well as rising vaccination rates.

This report outlines trends in cross-border mobility regimes at the global and regional levels in 2021, comparing these to the benchmark set in 2020. Next, it looks at the impacts and costs of these travel measures on migrants and migration around the globe. Then, it examines the policy questions C/T/As face in deciding how to adapt their mobility systems as conditions continue to change. Finally, the report considers the role of international coordination in the design and implementation of travel measures and the use of digital health credentials. The report concludes with recommendations and key questions the world will need to grapple with in 2022.

The Return Index Governorate Profiling provides singular analysis and insights on returns at the governorate level, with a comparison of figures and severity of living conditions over the course of 2019.

This report focuses on return dynamics in Ninewa Governorate, the governorate with the highest number of returnees. The report features an evaluation of conditions of return across the governorate at the end of 2019, provides insights on the mass arrivals which took place in September 2019 due to camp closures, and analyses the drivers of severe conditions across geographical hotspots that received an influx of new arrivals during that period.

KEY FINDINGS

• Ninewa Governorate hosts 1.77 million returnees out of the 4.60 million returnees in Iraq (38% of the total), making it the governorate with the highest number of returnees. Ten per cent of these returnees are currently living in locations ranked as having high severity conditions, while 32 per cent are living in medium severity locations and 58 per cent in low severity locations.

• While the absolute number of returnees living in high severity locations decreased between January and August 2019, in the last four months of 2019 the trend reversed and the number began increasing again. By December 2019, the number stood at about 174,000 individuals.

• The districts of Sinjar and Telafar host the largest number of individuals who have returned to high severity conditions. In Sinjar in particular, nearly all locations with returns are categorized as high severity – no returnee was found to be living in low severity conditions.

• A little over 52,000 returnees are living in critical shelters (3% of Ninewa’s returnee population), spread across 255 locations.
The majority of these returnees are concentrated in villages around the urban centre of Mosul district.

• Given the large presence of non-camp IDPs, one out of every four locations in Ninewa Governorate hosts both IDPs and returnees, increasing the pressure on the provision of basic needs and recovery resources. Multiple locations in Mosul and Sinjar, for instance, are currently hosting more IDPs than returnees.

• Between September and December 2019, DTM tracked almost 49,000 individuals who left camps for non-camp settings in Ninewa Governorate due to camp closures. Most of them (85%) returned to their districts of origin, while the remaining 15 per cent moved to new locations of displacement, thus becoming non-camp IDPs. The districts of Al-Ba’aj and Hatra host two thirds of these new arrivals.

• A little more than 40 per cent of the camp departures to non-camp locations in Ninewa Governorate have currently settled in locations classified as high severity. This influx points to a likely critical situation for these newly arrived households, from displacement camps to relatively deprived areas.

The Return Index Governorate Profiling provides singular analysis and insights at the governorate level, with a comparison of figures and severity of living conditions over the course of 2019 and early 2020.
This report focuses on return dynamics in Salah al-Din Governorate, the governorate with the third largest number of returnees. The report features an evaluation of severity conditions in areas of return across the governorate in early 2020, provides insights on new arrivals due to camp closures between September 2019 and February 2020, and analyses drivers of severity across geographical hotspots in the governorate.