ERBIL, Iraq — With the referendum on independence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq scheduled for Sept. 25, the fate of the large number of displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees in the region is unknown.

On Aug. 31, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the liberation of Tal Afar and Ninevah province, which was preceded by the liberation of the city of Mosul on July 10. But are the hundreds of thousands who fled from the Islamic State (IS) to the displacement camps in the Kurdistan Region going home anytime soon?

According to official data from these camps, as of Aug. 10, there was a population movement from/to the displacement camps and residents’ original areas in Ninevah province.

Karzan Noori, the head of the Erbil office of BCF, a nongovernmental organization that oversees the management of 15 camps for displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees within Erbil province, told Al-Monitor that while there is widespread willingness among the displaced to return to their original areas, little has been done, especially on the part of the Iraqi government, to facilitate their return. He said, “The concerned Iraqi government bodies have done almost nothing in the newly liberated areas to ensure the safety and security of returnee families, provide public service and reconstruct the collapsed infrastructure."