Journal of University of Duhok.,Vol. 22, No.1(Humanities and Social Sciences),Pp 1-9, 2019 (Special Issue), Center For Studies, University of Duhok

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF GENOCIDE AND MASS ATROCITIES IN FROM 2014 TO 2018

FARHAD RAFAAT AL-KAKE* and MARIA RITA CORTICELLI ** French Lebanese University ** Director of International Cooperation & Funding Relations Humanitarian Development Institute of America * Head of Accounting and Finance Department

(Accepted for Publication: January 30, 2019)

ABSTRACT The have suffered different : until 2003, the abduction and killing of eight thousands males belonging to the family, the , the chemical attack on , to quote the most known ones. At the same time, together with for ethnic reasons, each religious minority including Christians, Yezidis, Kaka’is, Sabbeans Mandeans, Shabbaks and others, have been targeted by the Muslim majority. Despite all the attention given by researchers to the human tragedies caused by this endless cycle of vi- olence, very little has been written about the economic cost of the genocides committed against minorities in Iraq. Relying on primary and secondary sources the purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic impact of the genocides committed in Iraq between 2014 and 2018. We are aware of the tragedy experi- enced by different minorities during this time. However, we decided to focus their attention on the Chris- tian community for two reasons: first, the availability of sufficient official data to run a exhaustive analy- sis; second, the conviction that this paper will provide an inspiration for future similar studies related to other minorities such as Yezidis, Kakais, Sabbeans Mandeans, and others affected by genocide and mass atrocities in the last fifty years. This study is based on primary. (209 words)

KEYWORDS: Iraq, Christians, Genocide, Minorities.

n the introduction to his new book entitled has been spent in the reconstruction projects I Economic Aspects of Genocides, Other which could have been used for the economic Mass Atrocities, and their Preventions (2018) Dr and social development of the area? How this Charles H. Anderton, together with other experts analysis can help to prevent these events? in the field, talk about how ‘the devastating mi- cro- and macroeconomic consequences of We were aware during this research that our GMAs (Genocide and Mass Atrocities) that re- choice of limiting our research to the Christian verberate through households, communities, and community run the risk of obscuring the wider nations.’ picture of the losses suffered by other minorities. The aim of this paper is to apply fundamental Since this approach has never been tried before concepts of economics to the field of mass atroc- in Iraq, we think that the methodology applied in ities and in Iraq between this case should be used in the case of other mi- 2014 and 2018 as a sample the Christian com- norities. In the case of the Christian community, munity in the Ninewa area. Following the series thanks to some local and international NGOs of attacks against the Christian community it is such as Schlomo, the amount of data gathered is very important to answer the following ques- enough to allow a tentative analysis of the eco- tions: How much has been lost in terms of prop- nomic losses experienced by the community and erties and businesses, but also in terms of indi- their consequences. In October 2018 we were vidual skills and future inversion? How much invited to pay a visit to the Gamawa camp

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placed between Shekhan and Dohuk. This camp did not spare women or children and before hosted a few families of Arab Sunnis escaped leaving they gave instructions to the local from the outskirts of Mosul when ISIS attacked hospital not to provide help to the victims them. These people were claiming their right to causing the death of the wounded. make their voiced heard, of talking about their At the time of our visit to Sorya in the spring houses and business which have been destroyed. 2016, the construction of the memorial site has When asked if somebody was collecting testi- been stopped due to the deteriorating economic monies and data about their communities they situation in the Kurdish Region after 2014. A said that nobody was doing it leaving them for- condition shared by other similar projects in the gotten in their camp. We are aware that other region. This massacre constitutes a pivotal communities are suffering from the same state of moment in the relations between Christians and abandoned and we hope that this paper aims also the state in Iraq and later in the Kurdish region. at offering a starting point for further research. Establishing a direct link with the past “The The research is based on primary and sec- Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council ondary sources. Primary sources include a com- (CSAPC) referred to the depth of the tragedy parison the application of economic principles to that was a continuation to the events of genocide studies as a new side of this discipline. and Sumele in an attempt to empty Iraq of one of Secondary sources have been collected in the its indigenous components that co-existed with form of semi-structured interviews with some the other components of KR in a real members of the community chosen. brotherhood attested by the mixture of Christian Before analyzing the economic, social and and Muslim martyrs’ blood in the village of cultural losses suffered by the chosen communi- Sorya”.1 But, what was the Sayfo and Sumele ty, the article starts with a general introduction attempt to “empty” Iraq from Christians? Unlike about the violence suffered by the Christian the which recently received community before and after ISIS and with the a deserved but late attention from the world of consequences of the massive diaspora caused by politics and from academia, the Sayfo events ISIS’s intervention and the increase of Christian mentioned, happened on the wake of the more presence in the KRG. Later, it will introduce the known Armenian genocide and were in some challenges posed to the KRG by the increase way obscured by the Armenian tragedy. presence of IDPs and the economic backlash However, among Assyrians and Christians in caused by ISIS’s intervention starting in 2014. general the memory of this event has been The article will try also to show the amount of passed on from generation to generation. Sayfo, capital lost because of the against ISIS compar- a word which means sword in Aramaic, was not ing it with the current calculated costs of recon- the first act of violence against Christians struction. perpetrated by other groups. However, it was the Brief Historical Background first one dictated by the rising of nationalism in On September 16, 1969 Sorya, in the north the area. In 1915 the Ottoman empire was of Iraq, was the theatre of a famous massacre transforming itself into the Turkish state and any against the local Christian villages carried out by element which constituted an obstacle to its the Baath regime. This is one of the most formation was perceived as an enemy that infamous act of violence perpetrated against needed to be eliminated. It was also the first Christians villages who claimed also Muslim time, and this is true in the case of the Armenian victims. The official figure talks about thirty- genocide, in which organized and planned nine people of which twenty-four Christians and violence dictated by the intention of killing and fifteen Muslims. However, recent figures talk a particular area was about a total of ninety Christians including implemented by a state. dozens burnt in the caves where they sought This uncontrolled violence had to repeat itself refuge. Situated on the banks of the River in 1933 when the newly formed state of Iraq Euphrates, the memorial dedicated to the sparkled the violence against Assyrians and Christian and Muslim victims of the massacre Christians in an attempt to push them away from has been initiated in 2011 when the victims their original land in the Niniwa area. Thirty received an honorable burial. One of the martyrs years later, in 1964 Christians became victims of was Father Hanna Ya’aqub Oasha. The killers the policy of forced implemented by

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the Baath party. In his book entitled The Year of community usually too slow to act or too the Sword: Sayfo - The Genocide Against the interested in defending its own interests to care Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the about the destiny of the single groups within the Ottoman Empire (2017), Önver Cetrez analyses society. Western religious authorities themselves how the reiteration of traumas in the history of a see the Christians of the middle east almost as single community constitutes a no healed trauma the remnants of a biblical past with no more than resulting in two inherited feelings: the fear of historical links with the contemporary, western distrust and the feeling of fear. Both feelings, Christian community. An attitude that along with other traits which the author indicates sometimes can jeopardize their relationship with as determinant in the process of the formation of the Christians communities in the West. collective memory, are both present in the So, how much the previous scenario impact narrative offered by the remembrance of the the economy of a particular group like the Sorya massacre perceived and presented within a Christian one? How much has been lost in terms narrative familiar to the Assyrian-Christian of properties and businesses, but also in terms of historical narrative. individual skills and future inversion? How Chronology in this case is a very important much has been spent in the reconstruction factor from Sayfo (1915) to Sumele (1933) to projects which could have been used for the Sorya (1969) Assyrians have always been the economic and social development of the area? targeted victims of state-led violence. 2 The How this analysis can help to prevent these question which consciously or unconsciously events? any member of the Assyrian-Christian In order to be able to answer these questions community asks himself, in particular after ISIS, it is important to take into consideration is not ‘if’ other waves of violence are coming economic principles that only recently have been but ‘when’ and ‘how’ they are going to survive applied to the study of genocides or mass them. The most recent events have the power to atrocities. These principles can be at a macro awake memories of persecution and death which level with the calculation of the losses after a can compromise current relationships and conflict or at a microeconomic level to attempts to heal past and present wounds. understand the economic causes and effects of As a consequence of this reiterative re-living genocides and mass atrocities at the level of the past dramatic experience it is necessary to individuals, households, and communities investigate how the community responded to shaped by their distributional dimension. In this them in the different historical times. Önver case ‘Targeting of individuals in cases of mass Cetrez interviewed the second and third atrocities often is the result of either perceived or generation of survivors of Sayfo and it was clear real conflicts over the distribution of power and from the testimonies that the distrust and fear resources in society.’ (Justino, P. ‘The with in which they grew up not only disrupted Microeconomic Causes and Consequences of their present lives but is also reinforced by the Genocides and Mass Atrocities’, in Charles H. last events of persecution and terror unchained Anderton and Jurgen Brauer, Economic Aspects with the invasion of ISIS in the Niniwa area. of Genocides, Other Mass Atrocities, and Their Önver Cetrez in his article explains very well Preventions, Oxford, 2016.) what are the consequences of these trauma along This article will attempt to base the the generations: the sons and daughters of the discussion on the collection and analysis of victims of retain all the fears eyewitness accounts, on the direct experience of transmitted to them even if they never faced the business men acting on territories torn apart by same fate. If this imprinting is so strong, in the conflict and civil war. This is a fairly new case of the Christians who see this repeating at approach not only for Iraq but also for other every generation is even stronger also because cases of genocides and mass atrocities around facing the idea of total extinction from their the world. However, before embarking in the original homeland added a sense of displacement analysis of a single community it is necessary to and loss of identity. 3 offer a general economic background of Iraq and Distrust and fear is directed to both the other in particular the KRG between 2014 and 2018. components of the society and the international In the last few years the economy of the KRI has suffered a strong halt due to the war with

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ISIS and to the deteriorating relationship with particular in 2017, which made the recovery the Iraqi government. Most of public employees more difficult. The first one in chronological have seen their salaries dramatically reduced and order is the referendum for the independence of the private sector struggles to fulfil the demand Kurdistan held in September 2017 and the con- for employment.4 The situation deteriorated fur- sequent closure of the regional airports by the ther after the referendum for independence held central government in retaliation for the referen- on 25th September, 2017. The renewed military dum. The other event took place on October 17, confrontation between the KRI and the central 2017 with the violence that engulfed the area of government for the control of disputed areas in on October 17, 2017 with the interven- Kirkuk and in the Niniwa area has worsened an tion of the Iranian backed militia Hash Al Shaa- already precarious situation with the arrival in bi, which again threatens the stability and securi- the region’s main cities of a new wave of IDPs. ty of the area preventing many IDPs, in particu- In addition, the decision of the central govern- lar Christians and Yezidis from returning to their ment to ban international flights to the region own villages and to participate in their recon- caused further damage to the regional economy.5 struction. The current economic crisis has the official start- Until 2014 (see graph below), the economic ing date of June 2014 with the advent of ISIS. indicators of the show that a relatively secure Since 2014 the influx of refugees, mainly from environment allowed in the KRG an economic Syria have changed dramatically the demogra- progress which contrasted with the economic phy of the region and in particular of the main indicators of the whole of Iraq in the same peri- cities such as Erbil, Dohuk and Slemaniya. Ac- od of time. This fast economic development was cording to figures reports by the KRG and the driven primarily from the revenue from the oil UN the situation has turned into a full-blown industry. However, construction agriculture and humanitarian crisis. At the beginning of 2015, services also contributed to the 8% of economic there were 257,000 Syrian refugees and growth. 1,003,000 Iraqi IDPs in the KRI. In addition, The prevalent oil economy in Kurdistan, as it there were around 250,000 IDPs who came to happened in other middle eastern countries, the region before 2014. Therefore, in early 2015, transformed the region into a rentier state able the total number of refugees and IDPs added up ‘to fend off pressure for sharing of wealth’ and to 1.5 million in the KRI. This constitutes as 28 consolidate oligarchic control by enhancing both percent increase in KRI’s population. Out of a the distributive, welfare and coercive power of total IDPs and refugees, 60 percent are in Do- the state’.8 This dependency has the result of huk. The large number of Iraqi IDPs and Syrian creating a workforce completely dependent from refugees reside in many of the same host com- the state’s revenue. The following chart shows munities, placing strains on the local economy the public expenditures of the KRG before the and access to public services.6 This situation has crisis. prompted the need for a short, medium term re- The political events mentioned above, to- sponse in order to guarantee refugees and IDPs gether with the presence of a ‘rentier’ economy, security and a decent life in the camps.7 had serious consequences on businesses in the Despite the advent of ISIS and the capture of region has been very high, and its full involve- Mosul signed the beginning of this crisis, other ment is needed in order to face and overcome events took place in the last three years, and in this crisis.

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Source: KERSO KRI: GDP at Current Prices, 2004-2011

This dependency has the result of creating a workforce completely dependent from the state’s rev- enue. The following chart shows the public expenditures of the KRG before the crisis.

Source: KERSO

The political events mentioned above, together riod of prolonged peace can enhance the economic with the presence of a ‘rentier’ economy, had serious development of an area guaranteeing social stability consequences on businesses in the region has been and coexistence. very high, and its full involvement is needed in order In the specific case of the Kurdish region as a to face and overcome this crisis. The need for a new whole some growing sectors in Dohuk and Erbil are economy, a diversified one, which can create new in the agricultural/livestock, food manufacturing/ investment and employment opportunities constitutes food processing, hospitality/service and construction one of the main challenges facing the business com- sectors (IOM, 2015). Dohuk plays an important role munity. However uneven the economic development in agriculture and industrial production due to its could have been, it is clear from these data that a pe- abundant natural resources, including water wells,

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canals and lands, with approximately 41% of IDPs in the second largest city of Iraq, was a unique example Dohuk relying on agricultural labor as their primary of coexistence. In its majority Muslim it hosted source of livelihood (IOM, 2015) followed by daily Christian and other minority including Sunnis. How- waged labor in construction. “The tourism industry is ever, first hand testimonies place a gradual deteriora- growing, and the governorate hosts a few oilfields tion of relationship between communities much be- and is rich in sulfur, phosphorus, and marble. Dohuk fore the arrival of ISIS. Rumors, voices of an Islamic also connects the Kirkuk- oil pipelines” Shi’a militia could not have escape the attention of (IOM,2015). Erbil is a capital city of KRG, inhabited people who had been already the target of Al Qaeda. by 1.35 million individuals of local communities Christians started to feel threatened along with Sunni (Kurd, Arab, Turkmens, Chaldeans, and Assyrians). Muslims living in the area. Some of their most prom- In the last 5 years 335,000 individuals (77,600 refu- inent representatives started to receive threat while gees and 257,000 IDP’s) have sought refugees in ref- kidnappings, indiscriminate killings and other threat ugees in . According to UNHCR announced the worse. Some of the testimonies gath- displaced people are now made up 25% of the total ered by the Schlomo organization show that the threat urban populations in Erbil governorate (UNHCR, began before 2014 with the advent of ISIS. One of 2016). 9 the testimonies from Mosul, victim code D.S.N., Economic Aspects of Genocides: The Case says: of Christians in the Niniwa area “We had [been] exposed to several abductions, Some of the Christian living in the Niniwa Area threats, murder attempts, and the death of my father after 2003 were returning after a displacement in as a result of fear in 2013. I used to work in Grains Baghdad lasted since the 1950’s as part of the Arab- Manufacturing Department in Mosul and as a gold- isation process. Most of them where living in the Do- smith after work. After I have been threatened for ra neighborhood and were making a living through many times, I moved my goldsmith’s to Tillskoff and commerce of working for the government. This dis- I left my job for thirty days. After that I was warned placement had already affected the Christian commu- to be dismissed from my job, so I went back to my nity whose children were taught in school as job. Later, my brother (N.S.N.), was a university stu- one of our interviewee currently living in Jordan dent, was abducted in 2013 and was released for states: 20,000 US dollars ransom after torturing him.” 11 “We were allowed to talk about our religion but This happened before July 18 2014 when, as the not about our ethnicity. They were forcing us that we same witness, victim code D.S.N. reports that: were . Some of the people interviewed remem- “[…] all the Christians in Mosul were threatened ber that when they were reading history there was not either to leave the city, be Muslims, tribute, or murder mention of Christians and sectarianism was an every- so we fled heading to Tillskof. In Alarabu Quarter, day occurrence even during Baath time.” 10 we had been robbed. They took our money, gold and Christians became one of the major target of the our car, too. We fled again on August 6 as a result of sectarian violence that engulfed Baghdad after 2003. ISIS terrorist Organization invasion in that area.” 12 Numerous attacks to churches and worship places The advent of ISIS broke the weak equilib- together with continuous threats, killings and kidnap- rium of co-existence between communities. The pings made life very difficult in the capital and some destruction of Christian communities in particu- family started to go back to their original villages. lar in Mosul and in the surrounding villages This caused an increase in the population in the area reduced even further the Christian presence in with the consequent need for more infrastructure. the country threatening its survival. The result This demographic change involved also Mosul. was the physical destruction and loss of church- Unfortunately, Christians did not find in the es, houses, but also the destruction of a whole Niniwa Area the peace they were looking for when community trying to establish itself in the re- they left Baghdad The intervention of ISIS and the gion. The inevitable, dramatic demographic violence to which the different groups were subject change is resumed in the following data provid- started with the gradual tearing off the social fabric of ed by the Schlomo organisation. the people living in Mosul. The violence reported by Christians went back to many years before. Mosul,

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Journal of University of Duhok.,Vol. 22, No.1(Humanities and Social Sciences),Pp 1-9, 2019 (Special Issue), Center For Genocide Studies, University of Duhok

Source: Schlomo Organization for Documentation.

The one suffered by the Christian community destruction it is important to count the economic after 2014 is perhaps the most damaging demo- impact of the war. As we saw previously in the graphic change experienced by the community research conducted on this topic by member of in its history. Out of one and a half million the business community in the Kurdish region, Christians only around 300,000 are currently the losses are substantial and can last for many living in Iraq. This had a huge impact on the years. The following chart offers an estimated economy of the Niniwa area Plain which most of number of victims in Mosul and in the main them do not consider it a safe place any longer. Christian village of the Niniwa area after 2014. As a consequence, in addition to the physical

Source: Schlomo Organization for Documentation.

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Journal of University of Duhok.,Vol. 22, No.1(Humanities and Social Sciences),Pp 1-9, 2019 (Special Issue), Center For Genocide Studies, University of Duhok

The table above shows that damage is not limited Comparing the two amounts, it is evident that in the to buildings and properties destroyed, but that this case of the war against ISIS the estimated costs of can be directly linked with the number of human reconstruction are more that the costs of the losses losses in the different areas. It is also important to caused by the conflict. notice that the previous table takes into account only Economic destruction means also that the three main economic sectors: agriculture, businesses which could have helped to rebuild and manufacture and trade. The cost estimated is more develop the community do not exist anymore. The than 82 billion US dollars. This is a very interesting charts below show how some of the most important results because according to an article published by economic sectors have been affected since 2014. Reuters in February 2018 in a conference held in Agriculture, manufacture and trade resulted the most Kuwait on the topic of reconstruction in Iraq the total affected in relation to the number of victims. This cost of it has been calculated around 88 billion US constitutes a very new approach to the subject of post dollars. The Planning Minister Salman al-Jumaili said conflict reconstruction which takes into consideration that ‘The seven provinces attacked by the militants not only the most immediate loss but also long term suffered $46 billion in direct damage, including the factors. destruction of 147,000 housing units, and the security The following charts also prove this point again forces took $14 billion in losses. Tens of billions relating the loss of chosen economic sector to more were lost indirectly through damage to the The number of victims. wider economy and years of lost growth’.13

Source: Farhad Al Kake

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Conclusion reality of the refugee camps. More information about It is clear from this research that economic the costs of the refugees’ crisis can be found in the costs of reconstruction are much more on the report entitled KRI: Assessing the Economic and So- cial Impact of the Syrian Conflict and ISIS, released long run than the costs of a sustainable and by the World Bank Group in 2015. peaceful society. Skills, knowledge and energies 8 Fred Halliday, The Middle East in International are lost in the process and they are very difficult Relations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, to replace. Entire communities with their 2005, p. 278. ancestral culture are heavily compromised due to 9 UNHCR, Displacement as Challenge and Oppor- loss of lives and massive emigration. The case of tunity. Urban profile: Refugees, internally displaced the Christian community in Iraq is only one persons and host community, Erbil Governorate, of Iraq, April 2016. example, unfortunately not the only one. 10 Personal communication with Remel Somo, 25 The aim of this article was to analyse of the March 2019. relationship between genocide, mass atrocities 11 Schlomo Organisation for Documentation, Mecha- and their economic cost in Iraq. To our nism of Work, 2017, p. 53. knowledge no similar study has been carried out 12 Ibid. 13 in the country before. We realise that by Maher Chmytelli, Ahmed Agagy, ‘Iraq says recon- struction after war on Islamic State to cost $88 bil- choosing to restrict chronologically our research lion’. [online] Available at: to the last four years which saw the advent of (https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-iraq- ISIS run the risk to overlook other, equally reconstruction/iraq-says-reconstruction-after-war-on- disrupting experiences of genocide and mass islamic-state-to-cost-88-billion-idUKKBN1FW0PH. atrocities. In addition, we are aware that by [Accessed, 07 February, 2019]. choosing as an example the Christian community we are excluding other groups such Bibliography Anderton, C. (2016). Economic Aspects of Genocides, as the Yezidis who were much more affected by Other Mass Atrocities, and their Preventions. Oxford: ISIS than Christians. However, we hope that this Oxford University Press. approach can be extended to other communities Cetrez, O. (2017). The Year of the Sword: Sayfo - The and that this effort can constitute a blue print for Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean further research in this specific field. Christians in the Ottoman Empire. New York: Berghahn Publishing House. FOOTNOTE Chmytelli, M., Agagy, A. ‘Iraq says reconstruction after war on Islamic State to cost $88 billion’. 1 Sorya Martyrs Laid to Rest in Their Village, [online] Available at: 19/09/2011, (https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-iraq- http://www.ishtartv.com/en/viewarticle,35376.html reconstruction/iraq-says-reconstruction-after-war-on- accessed May 8, 2018. islamic-state-to-cost-88-billion-idUKKBN1FW0PH. 2 Donabed, p. 154. Notes 63, 67 at p. 167. [Accessed, 07 February, 2019]. 3 Cetrez, Önver A. ‘The Psychological Legacy of the Donabed, S. (2015). Reforging a forgotten history: Sayfo: An Inter-generational Transmission of Fear Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century. Ed- and Distrust’, in Let Them Not Return: Sayfo – The inburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Genocide against the Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean Halliday, F. (2005). The Middle East in International Christians in the Ottoman Empire, David Gaunt, Na- Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ures Atto and Soner O. Barthoma (eds.), Bergham Sorya Martyrs Laid to Rest in Their Village. Ishtar, Books, 2017. [online]. Available at: 19/09/2011, 4 The Kurdistan region of Iraq: assessing the eco- http://www.ishtartv.com/en/viewarticle,35376.html nomic and social impact of the Syrian conflict and [Accessed May 8, 2018]. ISIS, The World Bank Group, 2015. The World Bank Group, (2015). The Kurdistan re- 5 Baghdad’s Flight Embargo on KRI’s Airports has gion of Iraq: assessing the economic and social im- direly affected Millions of People Across Kurdistan pact of the Syrian conflict and ISIS. Region and Iraq, Joint Crises Coordination Center, Joint Crises Coordination Center, (2016). Baghdad’s KRG, http://jcc.gov.krd/en/article/read/146 Flight Embargo on KRI’s Airports has direly affected 6 The refugee and IDP numbers are obtained from the Millions of People Across Kurdistan Region and KRG Ministry of Planning; and from the KRG and Iraq, [online]. Available at: United Nations’ Immediate Response Plan Phase II http://jcc.gov.krd/en/article/read/146 [Accessed May (IRP2) for Internally Displaced People in the Kurdi- 9, 2018]. stan Region of Iraq. IMPACT IRAQ, (2016) Labour Market Assessment. 7 It is not the purpose of this report to analyse the

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