Summer clothes in cold and gusty days in the "Bzeibiz" Camp
Shafaq News/ Despite closing the last Camp for the displaced in Al-Anbar by the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement, the "Bzeibiz" camp is still standing in these cold and gusty days.
Thousands of displaced people have been living in the Camp since their displacement after ISIS invaded Iraqi cities in 2014.
Many families cannot return home, accused by their tribes of collaborating with ISIS, and others worry there is no work, schooling, or housing to return to.
Hunger and cold became the first suffering of those living in the Camp, especially with the absence of government and relief organizations support.
Human rights organizations say that armed Shiite factions are now controlling the Jurf al-Sakhar district from which most of the displaced come. They prevent the people from returning under the pretext of fears that ISIS members will infiltrate and launch attacks on Baghdad and Babel.
The director of the central administration in the Al-Amiriya sectors within the "Bzeibiz" Camp, Rahim Rashid, says that "the camp consists of 18 sectors and is inhabited by more than 2,750 families."
He pointed out that the displaced suffer from the cold and the lack of government support
"Their skin broke down from the severe cold of winter and summer heat inside the tents."
Rashid said, "The majority depend on one of their family members to provide them with food and drink, or on what their neighbor in the camp offers them," adding that the Ministry of Immigration and Displacement did not provide them with anything since six months ago."
For her part, the civil society activist in Al-Anbar, Kawthar al-Muhammadi, says that the Bzeibiz Camp has been closed for two years, officially by order of the Ministry of Immigration."
She added, "The children walk around barefoot, wear summer clothes in the winter. Their childhood disappeared from their faces due to malnutrition. Women also suffer."
"There is no health care in the Camp; one doctor visits them weekly. The level of education is inferior." She said.
It is worth noting that between October 2020 and January 2021, the Iraqi Migration and Displacement Ministry closed 16 camps. Many residents were female-headed households displaced by fighting between ISIS and the Iraqi military from 2014 to 2017. Many of these families are being labeled as ISIS-affiliated.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has not shut down camps in areas under its control.
In December 2021, "The ministry has closed all camps for the IDPs in all governorates, except in the Kurdistan region, the last displacement camp in Mosul, which is Al-Jada'a camp, will be closed," Minister of Migration and Displacement Evan Jabro told The Iraqi News Agency (INA).
