Displacement as challenge and opportunity. Urban profile: Refugees, internally displaced persons and host community. Sulaymaniyah Governorate and Garmian Administration, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The Sulaymaniyah Governorate, with a total host population of 2.08 million people as well as 260,000 displaced people (IDPs and refugees aggregated), lies at the eastern side of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, bordering with Iran. e southern part of the governorate comprises the Garmian Administration (the districts of Kalar and Kifri).

Since 2012, Sulaymaniyah has gradually received Syrian refugees that were moving from their displacement in the Duhok and Erbil Governorates. Since 2003, families displaced from the neighbouring central governorates of Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala have
also sought shelter in Sulaymaniyah’s districts.