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KRG and UK immigration minister discuss
Kurdish asylem seekers
10.9.2005
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Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman
Photo: KRG |
London, September
8 - The Kurdistan Regional Government High
Representative Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman this week met
Tony McNulty, Britain’s Immigration Minister, to
seek a rethink by the British government of its
decision to forcibly return failed asylum seekers to
Kurdistan.
Also present was Shanaz Rashid, UK representative of
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Ms Rahman explained that the KRG had consistently
opposed the detention and forcible deportation of
asylum seekers but welcomed those who wished to
return voluntarily to their homeland. |
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She said the KRG understood that it was the UK’s
worldwide policy to return failed asylum seekers,
but Iraq was a special case since it had yet to
recover from the war and, even in Kurdistan, where
there is relative stability, resources are stretched
and those returned by force would be vulnerable.
Ms Rahman also conveyed the anxiety and
consternation felt by the Kurdish community in
Britain and asked whether those in detention had
access to lawyers.
Mr McNulty and officials from Britain’s interior
ministry (the Home Office) and foreign ministry said
that Britain was committed to its policy of
returning those who had failed to receive asylum
through all the channels open to them in the UK
after considerable investigation and legal process.
They said the British government has already taken
on board some of the KRG’s concerns and is in
continuous dialogue with the Kurdistan government on
this sensitive issue.
The officials said that those detained would have
access to lawyers. Those who were forced to return
would be given British financial assistance to
ensure they could return to their home town or
village once in Kurdistan. About 5,000 people fall
into the category for enforced returns and currently
almost 40 men are being held in detention.
The officials offered their assistance in dispelling
the speculation that had caused deep anxiety among
the Kurdish community in Britain by giving more
information to the KRG Office in London and to the
groups representing the Kurdish community in
Britain.
www.krg.org
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