1 JOURNAL OF PEACEBUILDING & DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 13 NO. 2, 2018 © JOURNAL OF PEACEBUILDING & DEVELOPMENT ISSN 1542 - 3166 PRINT/2165 - 7440 ONLINE https://doi.org/10.1080/15423166.2018.1469425 ARTICLE HOME AFTER ISIS: A STUDY OF RETURN AS A DURABLE SOLUTION IN IRAQ ROCHELLE DAVIS, GRACE BENTON, DANA AL DAIRANI, MICHAELA GALLIEN AND SALMA AL-SHAMI Abstract Return to one’s place of origin is considered to be one of the three ‘durable solutions’ whereby the displaced can effectively end their situation of displacement. However, to consider return to the place of origin, which in many cases has been transformed by war and confict, without consider- ing the conditions that people have returned to is to elide a whole host of challenges facing people upon their return. In Iraq, as military actors have reclaimed territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), internally displaced persons (IDPs) have begun to return to their homes in these liberated areas. While the liberation of these territories from ISIS signals the beginning of the end of a confict that has persisted for almost four years, preliminary data from an International Or- ganization for Migration (IOM) and Georgetown University longitudinal study on displacement in Iraq reveals that the security and material conditions for returnees are precarious. Using the In- ter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons, which offers criteria for whether a durable solution has been accessed, our paper draws on quantitative data and qualitative interviews with returnees to explore the material and security conditions for recent returnees and the strategies returnees employ to cope with these issues. Keywords: Iraq, internally displaced persons (IDPs), ISIS, return, durable solutions Introduction Beginning in December 2013, an estimated three million Iraqis were displaced when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took over parts of northern, western, and central Iraq (International Organization for Migration [IOM] 2017c). For many Iraqis, this repre- sented yet another rupture in a long string of multiple displacements (Chatty & Mansour 2011; Ferris 2008; IOM Iraq 2009; Ladek 2012; Romano 2005). Internally displaced per- sons (IDPs) in this latest displacement scattered throughout the country, feeing mostly to cities, but also to some rural places in both Arab and Kurdish areas. After years in dis- placement, some learned new languages, absorbed new cultural traditions, brought new businesses and food to the host communities, and crowded into health care facilities and schools, among other changes (IOM 2017a, 2017b; Khedir 2015; United Nations Offce for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] 2015; Refugees International 2016). As the Iraqi army, Peshmerga forces, and numerous militia groups reclaimed territory from ISIS, IDPs began to return to their homes in liberated areas (Grisgraber 2017; IOM 2017c; 2017d; Siddiqui et al. 2016). Return to one’s place of origin is considered to be one of the three ‘durable solutions’ whereby the displaced can effectively end their sit- uation of displacement (Brookings Institution 2010, 5; IOM 2016). By returning to their