KRG Interior Ministry decries Iraqi migration minister's assertions on displaced Sinjar inhabitants

Shafaq News/ The Interior Ministry of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Tuesday vehemently rebuked the remarks made by Ivan Faiq Jabro, Iraq's Minister of Migration and Displacement, on the hindered repatriation of displaced individuals in the Sinjar district.

The Ministry ascribed the principal impediment to their return to the presence of "unauthorized armed factions" in Sinjar and the unfulfilled implementation of the Erbil-Baghdad accord to restore normalcy in the district.

Sinjar is a Yazidi-majority town in Iraq's northern Nineveh governorate that suffered heavily during the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) onslaught in 2014, leading to genocide and other systematic abuses against its communities.

With ISIS no longer a major threat, political disorder and security skirmishes continue to impede the recovery of the war-scarred community.

Sinjar is considered one of fourteen disputed territories claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, which is defined by the rivalry between government and territory control. Additionally, as Sinjar shares borders with Syria's al-Hasakah province to the northwest and Turkey's Silopi province to the northeast, it remains in a regional quandary.

Under the auspices of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed on October 29, 2020, a security and stability agreement for the district of Sinjar, aiming for reconciliation.

In terms of security, the agreement calls for the deportation of all armed groups and the appointment of 2,500 local security forces to Sinjar. However, the call for local police to re-control the area remains vital—absent implementation. The agreement also mentions the withdrawal of the Kurdistan Workers Party from the Sinjar district. The PKK moved to Sinjar with the advantage of a security vacuum in 2014 as the ISIS attacks ensued. Soon after the establishment of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a political wing was founded under the Sinjar Democratic Autonomous Council and Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party. With the PKK’s integration and the recruitment of Yazidis to the YBS to help with the area’s security, it created further obstacles to the group’s departure.

However, despite the repeated calls from the KRG, the agreement introduced to the public with minimal consultation for the local community remains with stalled with a little appetite for implantation.

In a statement, the KRG's Interior Ministry addressed Jabro's allegations pertaining to the rationale for the non-repatriation of displaced persons and refugees, asserting, "It is regrettable that the Minister of Migration and Displacement, during a televised interview, opted to engage in irresponsible and unfounded statements on the matter of the displaced, exploiting the issue for political gain, rather than acknowledging the principal reasons for their non-return and the challenges confronting the Sinjar Agreement."

"Such perspectives and declarations not only obfuscate the facts and the desires of the displaced but also fail to ameliorate their predicament or facilitate the resumption of normal life," the statement added.

The Interior Ministry attributed the hindered repatriation of displaced families to Sinjar to several prominent factors, including the existence of unlawful armed groups in the area and the unrealized implementation of the agreement between the KRG and the Federal Government to reinstate normalcy in the district.

The statement expressed consternation that "financial aid continues to be furnished to illegitimate forces and militias in Sinjar under the guise of reconstruction."