Prevention Is a Band-Aid: Displacement, Migration and Trafficking Risk in Iraq

Even as Iraq rolls out national action plans and committees to prevent trafficking, its prevention efforts feel disconnected from the real risks on the ground. The U.S. report and local media confirm that displaced people, migrant workers, and the poor remain among the most vulnerable. (The New Region)

For instance, many foreign workers are lured into Iraq under false promises, only to have their passports confiscated, wages withheld, or be forced to work in exploitative conditions. (The New Region) Meanwhile, internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees in both federal Iraq and the KRG lack effective grassroots programs that could warn them about trafficking or help them avoid it.

On top of that, although Baghdad and Erbil say they coordinate (there’s a 23-member high-level anti-trafficking committee), that coordination often remains bureaucratic. (rudaw.net) For KurdFile, this means prevention risks staying a “top-down” plan. Victims don’t need more committees — they need local education, mobile outreach in camps, and accessible legal support.

The KRG must do more than talk — it must invest in community-based prevention, especially in Kurdish-populated IDP camps, and regulate recruitment agencies that bring in foreign laborers.