Roma in Iraq and Syria: On the Margins of IDP Protection

This exploratory paper examines the relationship between humanitarian protection and a severely marginalised and under-researched group of IDPs - the Roma of the Middle East - specifically of Iraq and Syria

Published on December 2, 2021

Sarah Edgcumbe | mernid, IDPs, Vulnerable persons, Conflict, Protection, Middle East

Iraq. Salamiyah IDP camp on the Ninevah Plains 2019 © Sarah Edgcumbe

Much research has been conducted on minority groups within the IDP / refugee arena, with such research often advocating for greater protection and support for these groups. It should be observed, however, that there is an academic tendency to homogenise minority groups, conflating minority status with marginalisation. Such interlinkage, however, is not always the case, nor is minority status uniformly experienced by all minority IDPs. It should therefore be recognised that different minority groups will have different experiences of social relations, conflict dynamics and humanitarian protection and assistance.

This exploratory paper examines the relationship between humanitarian protection and a severely marginalised group of IDPs – the Roma of the Middle East – specifically of Iraq and Syria. Through preliminary case studies of Roma IDPs in these countries, it illustrates how IDP protection may be reinforcing forces of marginalisation or omitting the Roma from humanitarian provision entirely. This article will ultimately argue that recognition of experiences of marginalisation within the IDP population is just as important as a broader acknowledgement of minority status. It therefore advocates for increased targeted research, particularly with Roma IDPs, through earmarked funding, combined with subsequent targeted programming, due to the unique vulnerabilities and challenges that such marginalisation presents when combined with displacement.

Sarah Edgcumbe is currently a PhD candidate with the School of international Relations, at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research interests are the intersection of conflict, displacement, identity, marginalisation and resistance. Sarah has worked with IDPs and marginalised peoples in Iraqi Kurdistan and Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

This paper was written by the author during her Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

Download RID Working Paper No. 9

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