Background:
Mixed Migration in the Middle East
In May, 88 guest workers diagnosed with contagious diseases were deported by the Government of Jordan. In Iraq, IDPs continue to return, but are facing complications due to perceived affiliations with the so-called Islamic State. Female headed households in Mosul are relocating to camps in order to mitigate economic challenges, meanwhile facing widespread stigmatisation. Voting in the parliamentary elections for those internally displaced this month was challenging, given administrative complications with temporary polling booths set up across governorates in the Kurdish Region of Iraq.
Reports of Palestinians displaced long-term in Lebanon using smuggling routes through Egypt and Libya and across the Mediterranean towards Europe emerged this month, with often deadly consequences. In Turkey, the government continued its campaign deporting Afghans, with 324 Afghans and Syrians repatriated this month alone. Further serious evidence of killings of Syrians by Turkish border guards also emerged this month, with eight Syrians killed, half of whom were children, when attempting to cross irregularly from Idlib province. Return of Syrians continues to dominate the policy sphere in Lebanon, in the run up to parliamentary elections, as the EU calls for a “tightening of its borders” against irregular migration flows.