London-based women’s organization, Tadhamun (Solidarity) on May. 14 hosted an event on Iraq’s internal displacement crisis. Keynote speakers covered a range of topics and surveyed the consequences of this invisible phenomenon. Growing numbers of displaced Iraqis forced out of neighbourhoods, transformed into battle zones in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), offers only a simplified story about what’s been happening. Forced dispossession, urban cleansing, and expulsion are all problems that precede IS, as speakers uncovered.
Since Anglo-American forces invaded in 2003, 3 million Iraqis were made homeless. This figure does not account for the estimated 3.5 million that have resettled abroad. Pushed out of their country by different hardships, these people today form part of Iraq’s ever-expanding diaspora.
Professor Mundhir Al Adhami offered a historical timeline of displacement trends since 2003, and how the strengthened position of militias in the wake of the invasion, exacerbated the matter with unsanctioned armed groups acting as law enforcement entities.
Dr. Yasin Al Eethawi discussed changing migration and settlement patterns. Vigilante militias, and those absorbed by the state’s security apparatus have not only been targeting communities due to their religious orientation. One is easily hunted down for the political views he or she may hold. This has prompted the movement of some Shi’i Iraqis to Sunni inhabited areas. The other side of the coin, Eethawi explained, is the migration of Sunni Iraqis from IS held terrains to geographic locations they are granted access to.
Since Anglo-American forces invaded in 2003, 3 million Iraqis were made homeless. This figure does not account for the estimated 3.5 million that have resettled abroad. Pushed out of their country by different hardships, these people today form part of Iraq’s ever-expanding diaspora.
Professor Mundhir Al Adhami offered a historical timeline of displacement trends since 2003, and how the strengthened position of militias in the wake of the invasion, exacerbated the matter with unsanctioned armed groups acting as law enforcement entities.
Dr. Yasin Al Eethawi discussed changing migration and settlement patterns. Vigilante militias, and those absorbed by the state’s security apparatus have not only been targeting communities due to their religious orientation. One is easily hunted down for the political views he or she may hold. This has prompted the movement of some Shi’i Iraqis to Sunni inhabited areas. The other side of the coin, Eethawi explained, is the migration of Sunni Iraqis from IS held terrains to geographic locations they are granted access to.
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