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Last group of Iranian Kurd
refugees start relocation from endangered Iraq camp
GENEVA, November 10 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee
agency said Thursday it has started rehousing the
last 2,000 Iranian Kurd refugees remaining in a
decades-old camp in Iraq, which has been badly
affected by the security situation since the fall of
the Saddam Hussein regime in April 2003.
Al Tash camp in central Iraq was home for more than
two decades to over 12,000 Iranian Kurdish refugees
who fled Iran in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the security
situation rapidly deteriorated and more and more
refugees decided to leave the camp, either to return
home or look for a more secure existence elsewhere.
Located around 60 km from Fallujah and 12 km from
Ramadi, Al Tash was badly affected by the heavy
fighting in the area in the autumn of 2004. In
November 2004, the police station located inside the
camp was attacked. The previously well-provisioned
camp was also suffering sporadic cuts in its
electricity and water supplies, medical care and
educational activities. The chronic insecurity in
this part of Iraq has also meant that UNHCR, its
partners and the government authorities have been
limited in their ability to respond to the refugees'
needs. As a result, by February of this year its
population had dwindled to under 5,000.
As the situation continued to deteriorate during the
course of 2005, more and more of the camp's
inhabitants began to look for a way out. Some went
home to Iran, some headed for other countries, some
were resettled, some were stuck at the Jordanian
border, while others moved of their own accord to
Northern Iraq.
In June this year, as a result of the continuing
dire security situation in the area, the UN refugee
agency started to look for an alternative site to
accommodate all the remaining Al Tash refugees.
UNHCR and the Kurdistan Regional Government signed
an agreement in September, allowing for the
construction of semi-permanent housing for more than
2,000 people from Al Tash in Kawa, a site some 35 km
south of Erbil. UNHCR's implementing partner Qandil
started work immediately, and in the space of six
weeks the first sections of a temporary
accommodation site with winterised tents,
electricity, and water and sanitation facilities was
erected.
On Wednesday 9 November, UNHCR and the NGO Qandil
started registering and installing the first group
of 69 Iranian Kurd families – 439 individuals – in
Kawa. The group left Al Tash a few weeks ago, partly
to escape the continuing insecurity and partly
because they were encouraged by the news that a new
site was being prepared for them. The refugees will
be temporarily housed in the tents while, with the
help of expert advisers, they set about constructing
semi-permanent homes on the site.
The new arrivals immediately started sorting out
their tents. The women began cleaning and organizing
the luggage they'd brought with them from Al Tash;
children started ferrying water from the tanks set
up near the tents; and the men set about sealing the
tents to prevent drafts.
"Obviously 23 years of being refugees equipped us
with some skills," one refugee commented wryly, when
UNHCR staff on the spot remarked how fast and
well-organized they were.
"We are very happy and relieved that the Al Tash
refugees can now start moving to a safer location,
as life has been very difficult and dangerous for
them," said Walpurga Englbrecht, currently in charge
of UNHCR's Iraq operation from Amman. "UNHCR is
assisting the refugees with the relocation and will
provide them with support on the ground,
reinstallation allowances, as well as school and
health care."
The last 1,500 Iranian Kurds who are still residing
in Al Tash, are scheduled to start moving to Kawa
later this month. The second block, which will
accommodate 70 families, is expected to be ready by
mid-November. By mid-December, UNHCR expects to have
settled all the remaining refugees from the camp in
Kawa. At the same time, UNHCR is strongly
encouraging some 200 refugees who are stranded on
the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Jordan border, to move up
to the North as well.
"It has been difficult to find alternative solutions
for the Iranian Kurds and we are very grateful for
the generosity of the authorities," Englbrecht said.
"In the present difficult security climate, however,
we can only encourage all the refugees to benefit
from the opportunity to start a new life in the
North. Remaining stranded at the border is no life
for anyone, especially not for a child."
Earlier this year, some 200 refugees from Al Tash –
half of whom are children – became stranded at the
border, while attempting to enter Jordan. The
refugees are presently housed in tents on the Iraqi
side, and are being provided with food, water and
medical care. But the current location is far from
safe, access remains a huge problem, and there is
little prospect of the group being allowed entry
into Jordan any time soon – especially after
Wednesday's murderous bomb attacks in the Jordanian
capital Amman, and the subsequent closure of the
country's borders.
"Winter is fast approaching and a solution must be
found urgently. Joining the other refugees in the
North is the only option under the current
circumstances," Englbrecht said.
In the meantime, the remaining residents of Al Tash
camp – haunted by serious security incidents in the
camp, including operations by multi-national forces,
frequent appearances of armed men in the vicinity of
the camp, three refugee deaths and two kidnappings
in the past 8 months, as well as continuing water
shortages and interrupted electricity supplies – are
ready to move. Convinced by others who went before
them, the residents have started packing up and
deregistering their children from schools and the
local public distribution system, in preparation for
the move.
Kawa is the second site in northern Iraq to be
developed by UNHCR and its partners. In 2004, a
total of 277 families from Al Tash camp moved into
accommodation constructed in Barika near one of the
other big northern Iraqi cities, Sulaymaniyah.
UNHCR
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