The Iraqi government continues to pay displaced families returning home four million dinars upon direct orders from the Iraqi prime minister, the country’s minister of migration said on Thursday.

“The four million dinar payment continues and does not affect the budget,” Minister Ivan Faiq Jabro told state media, adding that the “prime minister is keen on delivering the payment to the registered displaced families.”

“The Ministry of Migration and Displacement works on delivering the payment directly upon the exit of the families from the camps,” she added.

A member of the Iraqi parliament’s Committee on Migration and Social Reconciliation in May said that “the total number of displaced persons ranges between 800,000 and one million throughout the country, with some residing in the Kurdistan Region's camps and others in Nineveh, Anbar, outskirts of Baghdad, and other provinces.”

The Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement earlier this year announced the continuation of registration for voluntary return to close displacement camps in the Kurdistan Region by the scheduled deadline of July 30. 

To motivate people to return, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement in January 2024, offered aid and incentives, such as a one-time payment of four million Iraqi dinars per family, potential government employment, social security benefits, and interest-free loans for small businesses.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on May 13, saying that the closing of the camps in the Kurdistan Region “will imperil the rights of many camp residents from the northern Sinjar district.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Interior Ministry reports that the 23 camps throughout the Kurdistan Region currently accommodate around 157,000 individuals, many of whom originate from Sinjar.

The KRG has on several occasions expressed that they do not support the forceful return of displaced people to their home areas, claiming that many are unable to return due to security concerns and the KRG would only support a consensual return of said people.