This report provides information on key socio-economic indicators in Iraq, focusing on the cities of Baghdad, Basrah, and Sulaymaniyah and highlights aspects of the legal and administrative requirements for Iraqis to enter and settle in the respective city, ID documents and access to basic services, the situation of IDPs and returnees, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This report is an update to the EASO COI Report: Iraq Key Socio-economic Indicators, published in September 2020.
The reference period for this report covers the time period between 1 August 2020 and 15 October 2021.
This report is a part of a series of Iraq reports that will be produced in 2021-2022. These reports cover the security situation, key socio-economic indicators in Baghdad, Basrah, and Sulaymaniyah, and targeting of individuals. 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 2022 update.
This report should be read in conjunction with the other reports that will be published later.
The report was drafted by the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) and was reviewed by the Country of Origin (COI) Unit of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The drafting of this report was finalised on 31 October 2021. Any event taking place after this date is not included in this report. Some additional information was added during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback received during the quality control process, until 31 October 2021.
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019) and the EASO COI Writing and Referencing Guide (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.