Iraq's President Abdul Latif Rashid said on Sunday that approximately 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are enduring highly complex and challenging circumstances.
Rashid had received the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Development Program (UNDP) Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for the Arab States, Abdallah al-Dardari, and the accompanying delegation.
The Iraqi president underscored the need to develop ties with the UN through its specialized agencies to achieve the desired objectives of supporting Iraq in a way that helps resolve the problems of the displaced, and promotes the country's economy and development, a statement by the Presidency Office said.
He referred to the national capabilities of engineers and the workforce that can be used through cooperation with United Nations organizations to help the immigrants.
The president urged the UN delegation to visit the ministries of water resources, agriculture, and electricity to oversee the required needs and exchange visions, ideas, and experiences to improve the situation in these areas.
The discussions also addressed the water crisis faced by Iraq due to the water policies of neighboring countries and the absence of effective water management and electricity production, the statement noted.
The number of displaced Iraqis has decreased significantly in recent years after the decline of the influence of terrorist groups and the military defeat of ISIS.
UN reports indicated there were about four million displaced people at the height of the violence, and ISIS control over about a third of the lands in the west and north of the country.
The Iraqi Ministry of Immigration indicates that there are 36,000 displaced families distributed in 20 displacement camps in the Dohuk governorate in the Kurdistan region. There are also 26,000 Iraqis out of 70,000 displaced in the Syrian al-Hawl camp.
Last week, an intergovernmental meeting was held in Baghdad, sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, and attended by the National Security Adviser and international missions and organizations residing in Iraq.
The meeting aimed to discuss the vision of the Iraqi government regarding the al-Hol camp in Syria.
The Iraqi government said it was able to transfer ten batches of Iraqi families coming from the Hol camp who will be rehabilitated before their reintegration into their communities.
The return of the displaced families from the Jurf al-Sakhar area in Babil governorate is still highly questionable, given that one of the armed factions that have controlled the area for eight years has not allowed them to return.
The Ministry of Migration and Displacement announced the return of a new batch of Iraqis from the areas located on the Turkish-Syrian border, through the ministry's office in Ankara, in coordination with the Ministry of Transport and the Iraqi embassy and consulate in Türkiye.
The ministry said that 102 Iraqi citizens had been transported from the areas located on the Turkish-Syrian border to the country through the Ibrahim al-Khalil crossing of Zakho district in Dohuk.
The ministry affirmed that it would continue its efforts to "voluntarily return all families to the homeland."
