Exclusive: +75,000 left Iraq since January 2022, 38 died on the emigration road

Shafaq News/ More than 75,000 Iraqi citizens have left the country since January 2022, an official in Iraq's Commission of Refugees, Amanj Said, said on Saturday.

Said told Shafaq News Agency, "between January 1st and October 1st of the current year, nearly 75,000 Iraqis left the country. More than 38,000 are residents of the Kurdistan region."

"During the same period, 38 perished in drowning accidents, and 27 went missing; not to mention the Iraqi nationals detained in prisons and camps," he said.

"Iraqi nationals who sought refuge, particularly in Europe, are in dire conditions," Said added, "the Russian-Ukrainian war has taken a toll on all the refugees in Europe, especially with the fuel crisis soaring as winter bites."

"The United Kingdom has decided recently to give privilege to families over individual migrants. This decision, if it found its way to execution, might be detrimental to Iraqis outside."

"Migrants are being used as leverage by certain countries seeking to settle outstanding issues," Said continued, "the migrants are the weakest link in this international auction. The federal and regional governments should take the matters upon themselves and uproot the crisis from where it began; from here."