Displaced people in Iraq are running out of options as the government shuts down refugee camps
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- The Iraqi government is shutting down refugee camps, forcing displaced families to return to shattered homes.
- The closures are coming in the dead of winter with the pandemic in full swing.
- Human rights experts are concerned that the closures will create health problems for families who don't have access to PPE or running water.
Years of war have forced millions of Iraqis to leave their homes and seek refuge in temporary camps.
But now the Iraqi government plans to close them all down.
It's forcing vulnerable families of internally displaced Iraqis to return home - if they can return at all. And now, informal settlements are on the rise.
Aid workers and human rights groups say that without a clear plan for what's next, the lives of displaced Iraqis are at risk.
"The government decision to close these camps is ultimately leaving thousands of people without shelter, without water, without food," said Belkis Wille, senior researcher with the Conflict and Crisis division at Human Rights Watch. "Because the camps were how they got that, with many humanitarian organizations providing those services."
There's not much left of the Habbaniyah Tourist Camp, located 80 kilometers west of Baghdad. The Iraqi government shut it down on November 11 after five years of sheltering displaced citizens.
But 270 families still remain since they have nowhere else to go. One resident, Abu Akhil Naser Hmeed El Cheick, said his hometown south of Baghdad is still being occupied by militias.
"Our houses are completely destroyed," he said. "But the problem is not the destruction, because we cannot even see those destroyed houses. Because you know there is an army inside it, and the army is preventing us from going back."
Many Iraqis started fleeing their homes in 2014 when a civil war against the Islamic State began.
The conflict displaced 6 million Iraqis - 15% of the country's population. Over the years, many returned home.
Others have been living in 43 formal camps across the country, set up by different aid agencies.
"In these camps, you have a multitude of different international organizations," Wille said. "Even some local organizations that provide basic things like food distribution, clean water showers, bathrooms, as well as healthcare providers that are providing really essential benefits, not only in terms of physical medical care, but also in terms of psychosocial support."
But the Iraqi government says the war ended three years ago, and now it's time to go home.
"The issue is how they're doing it, telling a family you have 24 hours to leave this camp," Wille said. "A family who knows that they can't go home and now is desperately trying to figure out where else they can go without the money to, you know, rent an apartment in another city nearby. That's not the way to do it."