1. General description of the security situation in Iraq
1.5 Impact of the violence on the civilian population
At EASO’s request, the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) compiled data on civilian casualties in the reference period.
Year Number of incidents Killed Injured Total
2019 (Jan – Dec) 400 341 566 907
2020 (Jan – Jul) 213 121 184 305
Grand total 613 462 750 1212
Table 1: Overall casualty figures, 1 January 2019 – 31 July 2020213
Broken down by gender, age and police, 323 men and 20 women, 45 children and 74 police were killed. Segregation for boys and girls was not available. Iraqi police were included due to their civilian functions related to law enforcement at the time of the incident and were considered as civilians (not directly taking part in hostilities – DPiH).
Year Women
casualties
Children casualties
Police casualties Men casualties Total
Killed Injured Killed Injured Killed Injured Killed Injured 2019
(Jan – Dec)
14 21 39 65 50 69 238 411 907
2020 (Jan – Jul)
6 12 6 21 24 41 85 110 305
Total 20 33 45 86 74 110 323 521 1 212
Table 2: Casualty figures by gender, age and police, 1 January 2019 – 31 July 2020214
UNAMI’s breakdown by incident type uses a different categorisation of incidents than ACLED. As shown by UNAMI’s categorisation in the table below, the incidents causing the highest numbers of fatalities are IEDs (including roadside IEDs (465 casualties), small arms fires by pistols and or AKs215 (350), vehicle-borne IED (VBIED - 131 casualties). Air strikes caused 58 civilian casualties.
211 Al-Jazeera, Iraqi protesters block roads, shutting offices and schools, 3 November 2019, url; Al-Jazeera, 20 January 2020, Iraq protesters block roads as they step up calls for reform, 20 January 2020, url; BBC, Iraq protesters: Demonstrators block roads in Najaf, 1 February 2020, url; Arab News, Iraq activist shot dead as anti-government protesters block roads, 22 January 2020, url
212 EPIC, ISHM: July 9-16, 2020, 16 July 2020, url
213 UNAMI, Email to EASO, 24 August 2020
214 UNAMI, Email to EASO, 24 August 2020
215 Encyclopaedia Britannica, AK-47 Soviet firearm, n.d., url
Incidents’ type 2019 2019 total casualties (killed and injured)
2020 2020 total
casualties (killed and injured)
# of
incidents
Killed Injured # of
incidents
Killed Injured
IED (including roadside IEDs)
112 103 280 383 45 24 58 82
Vehicle-borne IED
(VBIED) 12 18 106 124 3 0 7 7
Suicide VBIED
(SVIED) 2 1 7 8 0 0 0 0
Body-borne IED
(BBIED) 1 4 1 5 1 0 6 6
SAF (small arms fires by pistols and or AKs)
136 153 74 227 60 63 60 123
Indirect Fire (mortars and rockets) – IDF
12 15 28 43
15 2 30 32
Air
attack/artistries 25 7 28 35 66 15 8 23
Explosive Remnant of War (ERW)
22 8 19 27 7
7 2 9
Unexploded Ordinances (UXOs)
4 2 3 5
0 0 0 0
Execution-Style 14 25 2 27 5 7 0 7
Hand grenade
(HG) 13 1 12 13 4 2 13 15
Farmland related
fires 18 3 4 7 0 0 0 0
Stabbing/Assault 5 0 2 2 0 0 0 0
Armed attack/ground engagement
1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Abduction 17 0 0 0 7 1 0 1
Empty building destructions (by IEDs)
5 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
…Other… 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Total 400 341 566 907 213 121 184 305
Grand total (killed and injured) for 2019 & 2020
1 212 (907 +305)
Table 3: Civilian casualties by incident type216
Ninewa had the highest numbers of casualties (264 casualties, of which 82 were fatalities) followed by Kirkuk (258 casualties, of which 81 were fatalities), Diyala (224 casualties, 93 fatalities), Anbar (120 casualties, 50 fatalities), and Baghdad (58 casualties, 40 fatalities). The lowest numbers appeared in Wassit (2 casualties, 1 fatality), Thi-Qar (3 casualties, 1 fatality), Qadissyia (4 casualties, 0 fatalities).
Basra had 12 casualties of which 9 were fatalities. No casualties were recorded in Missan.
The table below shows the figures broken down by governorate. Data for districts were not available.
Table 4: Civilian casualties by governorate217
216 UNAMI, Email to EASO, 24 August 2020
217 UNAMI, Email to EASO, 24 August 2020
Governorate 2019 (Jan – Dec) 2019 total casualties (killed and injured)
2020 (Jan – Jul) 2020 total casualties (killed and injured)
# of
incidents
Killed Injured # of
incidents
Killed Injured
Anbar 30 43 62 105 4 7 8 15
Babil 13 1 31 32 1 0 0 0
Baghdad 42 37 13 50 4 3 5 8
Basra 17 6 3 9 2 3 0 3
Diyala 55 47 64 111 48 46 67 113
Dohuk 19 6 30 36 59 10 2 12
Erbil 16 5 12 17 12 4 1 5
Karbala 8 13 4 17 8 1 0 1
Kirkuk 73 68 156 224 17 13 21 34
Muthanna 4 1 1 2 2 2 0 2
Najaf 10 4 15 19 1 0 0 0
Ninewa 62 68 106 174 27 14 33 47
Qadisiyyah 10 0 0 0 4 0 4 4
Salahadin 31 39 58 97 12 16 33 49
Sulaymaniyah 3 3 11 14 2 0 7 7
Thi-Qar 3 0 0 0 3 1 2 3
Wasit 4 0 0 0 6 1 1 2
Maysan 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Total 400 341 566 907 213 121 184 305
Grand total (killed and injured) for 2019 & 2020
1 212 (907+305)
1.5.2 Infrastructural damage and explosive remnants of war
The military effort to retake Iraqi cities from ISIL resulted in ‘significant explosive hazard contamination’, according to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Additional hazard is created by IEDs that ISIL intentionally left behind. Working to address the problem, UNMAS focused through all of 2019 on Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah al-Din governorates. National and international stakeholders have acknowledged that clearance must come before reconstruction of key infrastructure and residential buildings can start, UNMAS stated, and deemed the clearance of explosive hazard as ‘critical’ to enabling people who have fled to return safely to the affected areas.218 In January 2019, iMMAP recorded highly contaminated areas mainly in the governorates of Ninewa, Kirkuk (around Kirkuk city and Daquq), in Salah al-Din (along the Tigris basin), in Anbar (between Fallujah and Ramadi), in Dohuk and Erbil (along the Turkish border), and in Sulaymaniyah (along the border with Iran).219
Most incidents mapped in all of 2019 were in the areas liberated from ISIL in Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah al-Din governorates, as well as in Baghdad governorate.220 In all of 2019, iMMAP recorded 310 explosive hazard incidents in these governorates plus Baghdad governorate. Between 1 January and 8 July 2020, iMMAP recorded 212 incidents in these governorates.221
1.5.3 Displacement and return
By 30 June 2020, IOM recorded 1 382 332 IDPs across Iraq. The top five governorates hosting IDPs were Ninewa (324 078), Dohuk (319 062), Erbil (236 496), Sulaymaniyah (139 860), and Kirkuk (100 026).222
The volume of returns has diminished over the years, with 8 % occurring since January 2018, according to UNOCHA – HNO 2020. During the first half of 2019, the number of IDPs who had returned home was 140 000, 3 % of all historic returns. Those who continued to stay in protracted displacement, did so for reasons such as fear and trauma, or new sources of instability.223 Human rights organisations reported in 2019 about Iraqi authorities forcing IDPs to return to severely damaged places of origin in areas retaken from ISIL.224 According to Husham al-Hashimi, the Iraqi government saw increasing instability in the northern and eastern parts of Iraq developing during 2020 as hindering the return of IDPs.225
In June 2020, IOM recorded 330 000 IDPs living in camps, 114 000 in critical shelters, 936 000 in private settings, and 1 000 in unknown accommodation.226
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Iraq, reported that extensive closures and consolidation of camps in the second half of 2019 had caused secondary displacement for more than 16 000 displaced households.227
218 UNMAS, 31 December 2019, Where We Work, Iraq, url
219 iMMAP-IHF, Humanitrian Access Response Monthly Security Incidents Situation Report, January 2019, url, pp. 5-6
220 iMMAP-IHF, Humanitrian Access Response, Explosive Hazard Incidents in Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah al-Din Governorates from January to December 2019, 12 January 2020, url
221 iMMAP Explosive Incident Hazards Dashboard, Explosive Hazard 1 January 2020 – 8 July 2020, updated 8 July 2020, url
222 IOM, DTM, Iraq Master List Report 116, May-June 2020, 16 July 2020, url, p. 1
223 UNOCHA, Iraq HNO 2020, url, p. 13
224 AI, Iraq: stop forced returns of hundreds of internally displaced people, 29 August 2019, url; HRW, Iraq: Camps expel over 2,000 people seen as ISIS-linked, 4 September 2019, url
225 Al-Hashimi, H., ISIS in Iraq: “Smoking the Fox out of its Den” Strategy, July 14, 2020, url
226 IOM, Iraq DTM Dashboard, Master List, Displacement Timeline, chart 4, url
227 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview, Programme Cycle 2020, 19 November 2019, url, p. 13
By the end of June 2020, over 4.7 million persons had returned to their areas of origin.228 This is an increase in the numbers of returnees from 2018, when over 4.1 million persons had returned to areas of origin as of 31 December 2018.229 IOM ranked the five top governorates of return in 2020 as follows:
Ninewa (1 807 170 returnees), followed by Anbar (1 503 468 returnees), Salah al-Din (692 142 returnees), Kirkuk (341 106 returnees) and Diyala (230 244 returnees).230
Returns decreased overall through the second quarter of 2020, partly due to movement restrictions imposed to counter the spread of the coronavirus. In districts that had an increase in returns, this was largely due to improved security, services, jobs, and reconstruction. Around 95 % returned to a habitual residence in a good condition and two percent are living in private settings, like host families or rented accommodation. The remaining three percent were living in critical shelters.231 The same percentages were reported for 2018, in the EASO – COI Report: Iraq – Security Situation 2019, Section 1.5.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in 2019 that the KRG had blocked the return of ‘thousands’ of Sunni Arabs, only allowing Kurds and Arabs with ties to the KRI to return to their places of origin.232 For more information on the impact of the conflict on the civilian population, see the governorate level chapters of this report. Additionally, information on aspects of this topic is also addressed in the 2020 EASO COI Report Iraq: Key socio-economic indicators for (Baghdad, Basrah, Erbil and the 2019 EASO COI Report Iraq: Internal mobility.
228 IOM, DTM, Iraq Master List Report 116, May-June 2020, 16 July 2020, url, p. 1
229 IOM, Iraq: DTM Round 107, December 2018, url, p. 1; UNOCHA, 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan – Advance Executive Summary, February 2018, url, p. 15
230 IOM, DTM, Iraq Master List Report 116, May-June 2020, 16 July 2020, url, p. 5
231 IOM, DTM, Iraq Master List Report 116, May-June 2020, 16 July 2020, url, p. 6
232 HRW, KRI – Arabs not allowed to return, 6 September 2019, url