ICC Note: Qaraqosh was liberated this fall with Iraqi Security forces and the US backed coalition cleared ISIS from the town limits on their way to Mosul. Now, Christians who were once hopeful of returning home are claiming they will never go back since they city is uninhabitable. Deep distrust exists amongst the Christian community in Iraq for security forces and Muslim neighbors. After all that Christians have faced from ISIS and occupation, it’s understandable that they feel unsafe returning home, especially when they were abandoned by security forces who had promised to protect them.

12/08/2016 Iraq (DW): “I’m not going back,” says Youssef, shaking his head as he picks the ace of clubs out of his hand and slaps it on the table. The other men sitting around nod in agreement. When asked about returning to Qaraqosh, a Christian city in Northern Iraq recently liberated from the terror organization “Islamic State” (IS), the reaction at the next table is the same.

So far, no one has returned. In the refugee camp’s cafeteria, the unanimous opinion is that, “Qaraqosh is no longer inhabitable.” Most everyone here has gone back to have a look at their houses and property and then soberly returned to Baghdad. Cellphone videos are making the rounds. The videos show rubble, broken porcelain, ravaged toys, collapsed ceilings and bombed-out attics.

Christian-only refugee camp

The “Virgin Mary” refugee camp is in the center of Baghdad and only open to Christians. Christian Iraqi parliamentarian Yonadam Kanna rented the property – which is situated next to his Assyrian Democratic Movement headquarters – from the city after large numbers of Christians in Northern Iraq were forced to flee because of “IS” advances.

Those Christians have been living here since April 2015. In all, 150 families are here – 800 people; 100 of them school-age children. Eileen, a rotund and jovial woman in her late thirties, runs the camp. She says that there are 550 Christian refugee families living in Baghdad. Most are living with friends or relatives . “Those who didn’t know anyone came here,” she says. Most are from Qaraqosh.

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