BAGHDAD IDP STATISTICS SHOW DISPLACEMENTS CONTINUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002737

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS PINR IZ
SUBJECT: BAGHDAD IDP STATISTICS SHOW DISPLACEMENTS CONTINUE
AT TROUBLING RATES (PART 2)

REF: BAGHDAD 1147

Classified By: Baghdad PRT Team Leader Phyllis Powers for reasons 1.4 (
B) and (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Government of Iraq (GoI) statistics indicate
that displacements in Baghdad province continue in spite of
the Baghdad Security Plan (BSP). Ongoing displacements in
Baghdad are turning once mixed Sunni/Shia neighborhoods into
homogenous areas in which one sect constitutes a clear
majority. The first cable in this two part series examined
which sects tend to flee to and from which districts and
presented IDP statistics provided by the District Councils,
the Provincial Council (PC) and the Ministry of Displacement
and Migration Karkh and Rusafa branch offices. This cable
will first describe the registration process for Baghdad IDPs
to shed light on why many IDPs, particularly Sunnis, have not
registered. Second, it will describe the role the Sadrists
and other political parties play in registering IDPs. Third,
it will present statistics from international and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) tracking IDPs in
Baghdad. END SUMMARY.

The Cumbersome, Sectarian Process of Registering as an IDP
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) GoI interlocutors told PRToff that IDPs must follow
the following steps to register their families as displaced:
first, the head of the household notifies the district
council in the area to which they have fled of the family,s
new place of residence. The IDP will be asked to fill out a
form indicating the present address, the prior address, the
number of family members who have fled (along with their
names and ages),whether the property from which the family
fled was rented or owned, and whether any family members have
been injured or killed in &terrorist8 attacks. The IDP
head of household will be asked to provide a photograph,
jinsiya (national identity card),ration card, and deed or
lease to prove identity and demonstrate that the person is a
permanent resident of a different area.


3. (C) Once the District Council stamps the IDP,s form, the
IDP must take the form and supporting documentation (jinsiya,
ration card, deeds, etc.) to the PC. The PC will study the
documents and if it finds everything in order will stamp the
form again. (Note: The 51-member Baghdad PC has only one
Sunni member. ISCI and Sadrist supporters dominate the
council, making many Sunnis reluctant to provide the council
with their personal information. Accordingly, many IDPs
register with the District Council in the area to which they
fled, but do not complete any further registration steps. End
note).


4. (C) Next, the IDP must take the form to either the MoDM
Karkh or MoDM Rusafa branch office. (Note: Until March 2007,
the only branch office was located in a predominantly Shia
neighborhood in east Baghdad. Average Sunnis considered it
unsafe to travel to the area, where Jaysh Al-Mehdi reportedly
exerts considerable influence.) If the branch office finds
everything in order it will issue the IDP an &IDP identity
card8 and start the process of getting the IDP,s public
distribution system (PDS) rations delivered to the new
address. It will also provide both the IDP and the Ministry
of Education with the necessary documentation to allow the
IDP,s children to register in public school at their new
location.


5. (U) GoI officials say the entire registration process can
take several months and likely costs the IDP several hundred
thousand Iraqi dinars in transportation costs for what
usually are repeated visits to each office. They add that
the transportation costs and time off work required to
register may be prohibitive for families who have incurred
substantial material losses in the process of being
displaced.

Sadrists Take Lead in Registering Karkh IDPs
--------------


6. (C) The DG of the MoDM Karkh branch office, Mohi Fayadh
Essa Al-Sabahi, said that Sunni and Shia party offices bring
in the majority of IDP files for processing rather than the
IDPs themselves or district council representatives from the
IDP,s new neighborhood. Al-Sabahi said that Office of the
Martyr Sadr (OMS) representatives bring in more than half of
the files his office processes, and the Iraqi Islamic Party
(IIP) bring in perhaps another 10 percent. He added that DC
members or IDPs themselves bring in the remaining 40 percent
of the files for processing.


7. (C) Al-Sabahi said in west Baghdad many IDPs first
approach a party office for help rather than the neighborhood

BAGHDAD 00002737 002 OF 002


or district council. He said party offices such as OMS, IIP
and Fadhila take the IDP,s file all the way through the
cumbersome registration process for no fee.


8. (C) Al-Sabahi said that the ministry requires party
offices to complete all of the same registration steps that
would be required if the IDP was registering himself or
herself. He said that party officials usually bring IDP
files to the office in bulk rather than one by one.

Why the Different Numbers Within the GoI?
--------------


9. (SBU) Of the three GoI entities that deal with IDP
registration the District Councils have the highest numbers.
(Note: This assumes that in addition to the some 53,000 IDP
families registered with local councils in the city of
Baghdad that there are at least 12,000 IDP families
registered with the local councils in the province,s
outlying areas, as there were in April 2007.) The District
Council numbers are followed by the Provincial Council and
then the MoDM. The likely reason for this is the District
Council is the first official point of contact for
registering IDPs; many IDPs only complete one or two steps of
the registration process, particularly because few benefits
come from being registered.


10. (C) Moreover, District Councils deal with relatively
fewer numbers of IDPs that can easily be tracked with paper
filing systems favored by Iraqis. The Provincial Council and
the MoDM also use paper files before loading data into a
computerized database that is only updated every few months.
Files in both MoDM branch offices and at the Provincial
Council are piled in haphazard stacks in corridors and under
desks, where some are likely lost. Also, each MoDM branch
office has less than 12 employees to deal with hundreds of
IDP inquiries and registrations per day. The Provincial
Council committee for migration and displacement, which also
deals with hundreds of IDP registrations and inquiries daily,
has two council members and three contract employees to
handle the caseload.

UN and NGO Numbers on Baghdad IDPs
--------------


11. (U) At least two international organizations and one U.N.
cluster of organizations track the number of IDPs in Baghdad:
the International Organization for Migration (IOM),the
International Medical Corps (IMC),and the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (Note: UNHCR is the
lead of the UN's Cluster F, which deals with refugees and
IDPs. The cluster approach is meant to bring together all UN
agencies to coordinate action in particular areas. Other
agencies in Cluster F include IOM, the United Nations
Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI),the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Children,s Fund, the World
Food Program, the United Nations Development Program, among
others. The IMC is funded by USAID and other donors. End
note.)


12. (U) According to both the IOM and Cluster F, there were
about 30,000 IDP families (or about 180,000 individuals) in
Baghdad Province as of July 2007. According to the IMC,
there were 31,870 IDP families in Baghdad Province as of July

2007.


13. (C) COMMENT: According to the PC and the MoDM, around
2,000 IDP families have returned to their Baghdad homes since
April 2007. GoI interlocutors claim they hope IDPs will all
eventually return to their homes. However, GoI interlocutors
say most IDPs fled due to direct threats, general fear and
deteriorating security conditions and have proven reluctant
to return to areas where the security problems that prompted
them to flee persist. END COMMENT.
CROCKER