United Nations officials are working with the U.S. military to address the issue of thousands of displaced people who are returning to their homes in Baghdad.

Called "internally displaced persons," or IDPs, the people fled their homes mainly during the worst of the sectarian bloodletting in the capital. As security has improved, many are finding their way back to their old neighborhoods.

Military and U.N. teams are working together to assess and help the people moving back.

"Beyond facilitating trips outside the wire, we laid the foundation for a broader partnership," Chris Markson, a social scientist working with the U.S. military in Baghdad, said in a news release. "This includes sharing information on IDPs and introducing [U.N.] principals to individuals in local governance, enabling [the U.N.] to build its own relationships with lower-level public officials."

The U.N. officials are representatives of the High Commissioner for Refugees, and they toured parts of northwest Baghdad with U.S. forces from the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Before the security improvements in Baghdad, the UNHCR teams had focused their work on southern Iraq.

Many of the IDPs in areas like Hurriyah have been temporarily housed in trailers. Others have been living in patchwork homes made of bricks, with no sewage, garbage or water services.

The UNHCR estimates there are several million IDPs in Iraq. There are several million more Iraqi refugees living in other countries.