200 displaced Iraq Christian families return to Nineveh

As many as 200 displaced Iraqi Christian families have returned from the Iraqi Kurdistan region to their areas of origin in the Nineveh governorate, an Iraqi official has confirmed.

The mayor of Mosul in the Nineveh governorate, Zuhair Al-Araji, announced in a statement on Thursday that many more displaced Christian families will return to their areas of origin in the coming days, following years of displacement.

A study by the Assyrian Democratic Movement revealed that nearly 120,000 Christians had been forced to flee the city of Mosul after Daesh seized control mid-2014.

READ: Iraq to open tomb of 2,000 civilians killed by Daesh

Earlier on Wednesday, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor warned the Iraqi authorities that the decision to close camps allocated to displaced persons at the beginning of 2021: “May leave hundreds of thousands of displaced persons homeless as their houses were destroyed in previous conflicts with Daesh.” The rights group added that the areas lack the basic necessities such as water and electricity.

On Sunday, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement disclosed in a statement that camps in the governorates of Kirkuk, Salah Al-Din and Anbar would be closed as part of a plan to return 1.5 million displaced people to their original areas.

The United Nations estimates that at least 5.5 million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes due to confrontations with Daesh.