Iraqi government plans to forcibly relocate IDPs in western Anbar desert: Afada Observatory

The Iraqi government is secretly establishing a new camp deep in the western Iraqi desert for internally displaced persons of key Sunni towns in the Babylon and Anbar provinces to forcibly evacuate them, the Afada Observatory - concerned with human rights issues in Iraq – said on Saturday.

The rights watchdog said in a statement that the camp will hold IDPs from Jurf al-Sakhar town, 60 kilometres southwest of Baghdad, and Owaisat village of western Anbar province. The IDPs, estimated to be nearly 180,000, are living in Bizbiz camp south of Fallujah city, in Anbar province.

Jurf al-Sakhar, or "rocky bank," became known as Jurf al-Nasr, or "victory bank" after it was taken back from IS in October 2014 in the first major victory for the Shia militias against the extremist group. The militias, which are officially related to Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), then relocated local citizens and established bases in the town. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani pledged to remove armed factions from Iraqi cities and residential areas across the country within the first six months of his cabinet.

However, the deadline passed with Sudani not fulfilling his vows.

الحكومة العراقية تبني مخيما جديدا لمهجري مخيمات #بزيبز من أهالي #جرف_الصخر بمنطقة صحراوية شبه مقطوعة مقابل عشيرة الهريمات/البوعيسى بجوار اللواء 54 المقر المسيطر الثاني للحشد الشعبي، ما يوحي بأنه سيكون سجناً لهم ويثير شكوكاً حول الأخطار والانتهاكات التي يمكن أن تلحقهم #مرصد_أفاد pic.twitter.com/qp7rqmmA5g

— مرصد أفاد (@Afada_iraq) June 3, 2023

"The Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement is supervising the setting up of the new camp which will be provided with a high-security wall, it is also near a base of the Shia militias," reads part of the statement by the Afada Observatory.

"This means the camp will become a prison for the displaced people and will endanger their lives, most of whom are women and children. The new camp lacks health, education, and transportation services," it added. 

المهجرين من سجن إلى سجن
المخيمات سجون إجبارية لإبعاد الناس عن أرضهم وتغيير ديموغرافي

الحكومة العراقية تبني مخيما جديدا لمهجري مخيمات بزيبز من أهالي جرف الصخر بمنطقة صحراوية شبه مقطوعة مقابل عشيرة الهريمات/البوعيسى

إلى متى السكوت يا من فقدتم غيرتكم
ساسة وشيوخ ونخب

— الشيخ ثائر البياتي (@thaer350) June 3, 2023

The observatory posted videos of IDPs from Jurf al-Sakhar in which they refuse to leave the Bizibz camp and move to the new camp. The IDPs have said those measures by the Iraqi authorities are aimed at humiliating them and stopping their demands to return to their original places where they have been forcibly evacuated since 2014.

The New Arab contacted Khalid al-Obaidi, head of the security and defence committee at the Iraqi parliament, as well as Naef al-Shamari, another committee member, but both were not immediately available to comment. 

Iraqi activists and observers have criticised Sudani's decisions and considered them as withdrawal from carrying out his promises to demilitarise towns and cities from the Iran-backed militias. 

"The IDPs are being evacuated from one prison to another, the camps are forceful prisons to banish people from their lands, this is considered a demographic change," Iraqi activist Thaer al-Bayati recently tweeted.

Nearly one million Iraqi IDPs are living in camps in the Iraqi Kurdistan region north of the country and areas around Nineveh province. The IDPs cannot return to their homes as they are afraid of persecution by the Iraqi militias.

The Iraqi government has vowed to close all IDP camps across the country, however, the Kurdish ruling parties are refusing to cooperate with the Iraqi government as they are exploiting the IDPs for voting in the elections.