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Iraq

Iraq Humanitarian Fund Annual Report 2021

Attachments

2021 in Review

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN

In 2021, humanitarian partners in Iraq aimed to reach 1.5 million vulnerable IDPs and returnees with focused humanitarian and protection assistance.

4.1M
PEOPLE IN NEED

1.5M
PEOPLE TARGETED

$607M
FUNDING REQUIREMENT

HUMANITARIAN CONTEXT

Humanitarian needs and response in 2021

The humanitarian situation in Iraq continued to evolve in 2021, four years after the attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and subsequent military operations to defeat them. The vulnerabilities of people hardest hit by the conflict were deepened in 2020 by the socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and plummeting oil prices. In 2021, despite an accelerated drive for durable solutions and sustained humanitarian response to mitigate the outcomes of the conflict, 4.1 million Iraqis were still in need of humanitarian assistance, 2.5 million of whom were acutely vulnerable.

While 4.9 million or 80 per cent out of the 6.1 million people displaced during the crisis had returned to their areas of origin, many continued to face significant challenges in reintegrating. Worryingly, the number of IDPs only declined by about 38,000 throughout 2021, underscoring the acute vulnerabilities among this group. Among the most pervasive vulnerabilities that IDPs and returnees faced were protection-related, including lack of civil documentation, as well as inadequate access to shelter and basic services, insecurity, and challenges to social cohesion that prevented their successful return and integration in their areas of origin. The limited livelihood opportunities continued to heighten peoples’ dependence on humanitarian assistance.

Recognizing its limitations in comprehensively addressing these needs with available capacity and resources, the humanitarian community targeted 1.5 million Iraqis. This included just over 0.5 million IDPs residing in and out of camps, and 1 million returnees. Specifically, the 2021 HRP focused on (i) support to meeting basic needs through cash and livelihoods assistance to reduce reliance on negative coping mechanisms; (ii) increasing access to quality essential services in health, education and water and sanitation; and (iii) fostering a protective environment through improvements in physical living environments, providing legal support to restore their fundamental rights, and psychosocial support. The IHF was responded to these priorities through its US$ 25.4 million allocations in 2021.

Internal displacements and returns

Displacement-related needs continued to be of major concern among the humanitarian community in 2021. By the end of 2021, 204,344 IDP households (1,189,581 individuals) remained displaced across Iraq—amounting to 20 per cent of all those who became displaced during the period of ISIL conflict. The IDPs lived in 2,842 locations across 105 districts and 8 governorates across the country. The highest caseload (79 per cent) was found in 15 districts. The majority of IDPs across the country lived in out-of-camp settings (85 per cent), while the rest were in camps (15 per cent). Both groups rely heavily on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs.

Between December 2020 and December 2021, 120,666 (20,111 households) returned to their areas of origin. This was 50 per cent lower than 235,116 returns recorded in 2020, and a significantly slower rate of return (2.5 per cent) compared with 2020 (5 per cent) and 2019 (10 per cent). Return numbers across districts in 2021 were influenced by the disparate severity of conditions related to indicators in livelihoods, access to basic services and challenges in reintegrating due to safety, security, and social relations. Notably, as of December 2021, almost half of all locations with full returns were medium severity (46 per cent) and half were low severity (50 per cent). In addition, 4 per cent of the total returnee population nationwide still lived in critical shelters, such as unfinished or abandoned buildings; school or religious buildings used as shelter; or in old tents in informal sites.

2020 camp closures

Government-initiated camp closures and consolidation between October 2020 and February 2021 resulted in the premature departure of over 46,000 IDPs from the affected camps. Many of these IDPs were neither able to return safely and sustainably to their areas of origin nor find other durable solutions to their displacement. This triggered a surge in secondary displacement, increasing pressure on already scarce services in out-of-camp and return locations and contributing to the precarious condition. The IHF responded to these emerging needs through a $5.6 million Reserve Allocation launched in December 2020, implemented in 2021.

COVID-19 and socioeconomic vulnerabilities

Iraq was continually affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, with over 2 million cases and 24,000 fatalities confirmed by the end of the year. While the economic effects of the twin shocks experienced in 2020 from the COVID-19 pandemic and plummeting oil prices have begun to subside, because of the lifting of most COVID-19 preventative measures and the increase in oil prices, unemployment remained disproportionately high among IDPs and returnees. The fluctuation of basic commodity prices stabilized in 2021, but at significantly higher levels compared with early 2020. Even as the pandemic increased protection needs, community-based programmes and legal services to address protection issues have not fully returned to the pre-pandemic levels of implementation. Basic services and infrastructure in many displacement and return locations were already inadequate prior to the pandemic, the consequence of decades of conflict and turmoil. These underlying, unresolved socioeconomic vulnerabilities, particularly the loss of livelihoods and household income (34 per cent of IDP households work in the informal sector which almost entirely requires in-person work) continued to hamper sustainable returns in 2021.

Security and access

Social, ethnic and sectarian tensions—along with a fractured security sector—exacerbated general insecurity and operational uncertainty in Iraq in 2021. Domestic, regional and international security developments continued to take their toll on the country. Throughout the year, multiple improvised explosive device and rocket attacks were launched by armed groups against bases and convoys of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, and also targeted Baghdad and Erbil international airports. Meanwhile, a resurgent ISIL increased its activities through isolated incidents in the central and northern part of the country, particularly along the disputed internal boundaries where territorial control shifts between the primary security forces of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Hostilities between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Turkish armed forces inside Iraq intensified.

The fragmentation of the security territory posed significant challenges for IDPs and returnees, who must negotiate with a range of personnel to cross checkpoints and move throughout the Iraqi territory. The presence of security actors in certain communities prevented the return of displaced families, often due to ethno-sectarian reasons, perceived affiliation with ISIL, or the appropriation of temporarily vacated lands by other individuals or groups for personal gain.

Humanitarian access in Iraq improved significantly in 2021, following the relaxation of the COVID-19 movement restrictions and re-establishment of the national access authorization mechanism in the last quarter of 2020. Despite the general improvement, the post-conflict context is characterized by the presence of multiple armed actors and the lack of a unified command structure, in addition to administrative impediments, continued to affect humanitarian access in some parts of the country. Respect for national authorization letters was not uniform at all checkpoints and movement through checkpoints could be delayed for several reasons, depending on the context of the day. Such access constraints were most notable in Kirkuk and Ninewa governorates (e.g., in Al-Hawiga and Sinjar districts).

OCHA chaired the Humanitarian Access Working Group and facilitated access incident monitoring and reporting, trend analysis, and advocacy for improved humanitarian access throughout the year. In some areas where partners faced additional authorization requirements by the PMF, ISF military commanders, or local civil authorities, engagements with local authorities led by OCHA facilitated agreements towards recognition of nationally issued access authorizations, which alleviated access difficulties and allowed for improvements in humanitarian response.

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