Poverty and lack of services in Iraq force refugees back to the camps

Poverty and a lack of services are preventing rebuilding in Mosul, forcing thousands to choose the lesser of two evils and return to the camps. Over 2 million have yet to go back home. Judit Neurink reports from Mosul.

Grab the vision, don’t let returnees leave again

Back to Canada, to Holland, to Britain. Many of my Kurdish friends who a couple of years ago left their new lives elsewhere to help the Kurdistan Region of Iraq towards a better future, now plan to use their double nationalities and return to what had before become home.

Some are bitter, most are disappointed. They had left behind careers, homes and friends because they felt they should play a role in rebuilding their fatherland. And many feel that if they had been allowed to use their experience and knowledge, things could have turned out quite differently. Then the present economic and political crisis could possibly have been prevented.

Many returnees to the Kurdistan Region have met distrust, and were not allowed to take up the positions that would have fitted their education and experience. And even if they did, their opinions would often not be heard.

Because the very knowledge and experience they wanted to offer their country, was considered a threat by locally educated Kurds, who as they could not compete decideded to block these competitors. And the politicians let them, because they needed to reward the locals to tie them to their parties.

Returnees were often seen as too critical, as in the cultural ways of the region, compliments are expected even when criticism really is due.

The present crisis is partly a result of this policy. Experts who talk about what caused it, name a number of things, and amongst them are nepotism and the lack of vision.

I know of western ministers who employ advisors to read books for them and brief them on the content, so they can get as much information from different places as possible to help them make well based decisions. 

When this is suggested to politicians in the Middle East, the general reaction is: do you think I don’t read books? But they do not realise they can never read all the books that are useful to shape a vision, nor all the background articles on line needed.

Caused mainly by nepotism and the need to buy votes, the Kurdistan region pays 1,4 million people a monthly salary or allowance, of whom 700.000 work as civil servants. And those are said on average to effectively work a total of only 28 minutes a day. 

An economic expert made the sum that this means, that the Kurdish government really could make do with 50.000 civil servants on a full time job.

It also means that often people were not employed for their capacities. Yet government jobs were popular because they came with a car, a piece of land, a pension. This led to people hanging on, instead of finding a job that would really suit them, as the private sector did not offer all those perks.

Whilst the economy was growing, nobody worried about it. Many civil servants had two jobs, and would just sit out their time in the government office before getting some real work done.

But now that war and low oil prices have changed it all, the truth about the government apparatus has been revealed. Because suddenly there is no money any more for all those people working just 28 minutes a day. And their second jobs have disappeared along with the investors and businessmen. 

This is the situation where returnees consider going back. No government income, no other jobs available and yet they have to pay their children’s schools fees – as the private schools offered their children the best education.

Yet the fact that they have learned to think ‘outside the box’ could be valuable, and the government would be well advised to listen to their opinion. Because vision does not come with the wind. It needs different opinions and analyses to be gathered and processed. It needs experiences from abroad to be compared to local ones. But it first and foremost needs an open mind to accept valuable influence from outside.

Returnees offer all that, plus their idealism to help their country to the best of their capacity. But very soon now, they will be gone. And they will not return, as they will not allow themselves to experience the same disappointment twice. Instead, they will put all their energy into building their future and that of their children outside Kurdistan.

It will be a tough decision for politicians, to choose between those who will vote for them, and those who will be able to make the country move out of recession and back into stability. I am not even talking about laying off people, but about getting the right man/woman on the right place to even help prevent too many lay-offs. But it should not be so tough. Not if they really care about the future of their voters.

KRG needs policy for Kurds who return from ISIS

Of the 500 Kurds that are known to have joined the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS, 50 have returned to Iraqi Kurdistan at some stage and for various reasons.


Upon returning, they were questioned by the Kurdish security police. Some remain in jail, some were released and being watched, according to the Ministry of Religion in the Kurdistan region’s capital of Erbil has said.


Elsewhere in the world, returnees from ISIS are the subject of heated discussion. In most European countries, jail awaits them if they are found guilty of membership of a terrorist organisation.

Read more here

Welcome returnees, don't be scared of them

Holland wants to help asylum-seekers from Iraq who go back to their country voluntarily, with education and money. But only if Iraq agrees on taking people back. Up till now, the Kurds refused to allow for instance the Dutch to send their people back to Kurdistan. So they end up in Baghdad, when sent back.

For many Iraqi's who fled from Saddam, the reason for asylum died with the dictator, as is the impression in Europe. That's why the Dutch feel most Iraqi's can safely go back, and for Iraqi Kurds that often is the case. In that sense Dutch minister Leers has a point when he says that when someone asks for shelter against the rain, you expect them to leave your house again when the sun has returned.Yet, if they have become Dutch citizens, their children are studying in Dutch schools, they should be given the choice.

Kurds who return to Kurdistan, do so for a number of reasons. They have received their foreign passport that will allow them to travel, so they feel they can come back. They finished their studies at foreign universities. They have not been able to secure an asylum. They don’t feel at home in their new country. Because of recession they can no longer find work or income. Their parents are old and need them in Kurdistan. Any of these reasons are valid at the moment.

Again, the group of returnees can be split in two: those who come voluntarily, those who are forced out because asylum has been refused.

For the last group, returning is a painful matter. The people around them expect them to come back from the West with money to spend - instead they and their families often are in bad debts that have to be repaid in some way.

For those who return voluntarily, some might bring a bonus given by IOM to help them get settled again, or if the Dutch deal gets approved in Baghad other financial help. Others have no such funds.

Over the years that I have lived in Kurdistan, I met many people who had problems adapting to the life here. Kurds do not plan, it is difficult to get people to abide by their promises, the ways of life are different without bars and cafes frequented by both sexes and social control is tight. But the main problem again and again is to get a job on the right level.

Jobs in Kurdistan are often related to the government. And as the government is the only one offering a pension, many returnees try to get a job with the authorities. But there are already more jobs then work, so the competition is enormous. New people from abroad are looked at with distrust. Sometimes they are asked: where were you when we were targeted?

Academics and medical doctors who return, especially have a hard time. They bring more knowledge than their colleagues who studied here possess, and many of the old guard regard this as a threat to their status and position. The attitude of many Kurds who finished university that ‘they already know it all’ widens the gap even more. As medical doctors in Iraq do not keep their knowledge up to date – and their Kurdish colleagues from abroad have had to do just that – they see them as a threat and try their might to keep them in the lower jobs where their higher standard is not so apparent.

I have heard of academics that were pestered and discriminated by their colleagues, whose advices were never used and more often even were hidden in deep drawers.

Yet Kurdistan needs new knowledge. It needs to catch up with the world after many years of isolation and discrimination. Knowledgeable Kurds from outside should play their role, and show be allowed to do so.

At the same time, people who returned forcefully will have to be persuaded to pick up their lives in Kurdistan again. To find work, to settle down again.

How to cope with all this? Just a few ideas.

Register those people who return to live in Kurdistan. Offer them information about their country, about job opportunities. Perhaps even offer them a little ‘training’ on adapting to the new Kurdistan. What to expect, how is the culture, what is just not done, when to be careful. What has changed in the past years, what is expected from them. Some of the returnees who have resettled into the country could be used to give them a briefing.

Register those people who are looking for a job, get them to make a promotion letter for themselves. Share this information inside government organizations, and use the returnees when gaps in the offices need to be filled that will fit their experience.

Open a special scheme for people who want to set up a small business. Give them support and advise – here too you could use returnees who have resettled into the country, as their knowledge could be very valuable. These businesses will offer work to other members of the family and perhaps even other returnees. Focus especially on businesses that are common outside Kurdistan (internet cafes, IT-support, advice on education, advice on raising a family).

Next to that, set up information channels to inform Kurds that education outside is never less than Kurdish education. That returnees have a role to play in the development of the country. That more knowledge is better than less. Make special TV programs with returnees, for instance. And make TV-quizzes on knowledge where returnees can show off.

Lastly, make a telephone line for complaints. Those returnees who walk into problems at work or on the society, can report on that. Action can be taken accordingly; talking to their bosses would be a first step. The complaints should be made public every now and again, to show the society what is going on.

Perhaps the Dutch will be persuaded to help, as they are probably going to work with a group of returnees who might be valuable in this sense. Kurdistan should use their knowledge, and stop being scared of it.