EASO COI Report. Key socio-economic indicators for Baghdad, Basra and Erbil

English

This report is a part of a series of Iraq reports that will be produced in 2020. The reports provide information relevant for international protection status determination for Iraqi asylum seekers and will be used to inform the update of the chapter on Internal Protection Alternative within the EASO Country Guidance on Iraq 2020 update.

This report provides information on key socio-economic indicators in Iraq, focusing on Baghdad, Basra and Erbil. It highlights aspects of demographics, humanitarian context, IDPs/returnees, women, children, support networks, documents, and impact of COVID-19. Relevant indicators include the general economic situation, access to employment and livelihoods, poverty, food and water security, housing and living conditions, access to health care, and access to education.

This report is an update to the EASO COI Report Iraq Key Socio-economic Indicators published in February 2019.

This report was drafted by the EASO COI sector. The following national asylum and migration departments and organisations have contributed by reviewing this report:

- ACCORD, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research;

- Poland, COI Unit, Office for Foreigners;

- The Netherlands, Office for Country Information and Language Analysis, Ministry of Justice.

The drafting of this report was finalised on 27 July 2020. Any event taking place after this date is not included in this report.

This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019).

Policy

Since 2013, the security situation in Iraq has largely been determined by the rise of and the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). On 9 December 2017, then Prime Minister al-Abadi announced that the last piece of ISIS territory on Iraqi soil was recaptured and that this put an end to the ground war against the terror organization. The repulsion of ISIS and the recapture of territories occupied by the organization has had a clearly visible, positive impact on the security situation in Iraq. However, ISIS cells remain active in several Iraqi provinces and the Iraqi security forces, the Shia militias and the Kurdish Peshmerga still carry out actions against the organization. This displays itself in strong regional differences regarding the level of violence, the scale of random violence and the impact of the conflict. Additionally, as part of the conflict with the PKK, the Turkish army carries out air strikes and ground operations against PKK targets in the northern border regions of Iraq.

Land: 
Iraq

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