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Ireland taking in 180 Iranian Kurd
refugees under UN scheme
10.7.2006
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DUBLIN, July 10,
2006 (AFP) , -- Ireland is taking in 180 Iranian
Kurds who have been living in various temporary
refugee camps for the last 25 years under a UN
resettlement scheme, the justice ministry said on
Monday.
The Kurdish refugees are made up of 11 family groups
with individuals ranging in age from two to 73
years.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell personally
welcomed the first group of 65 refugees in
Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland on
Monday.
They had arrived in Ireland 10 days earlier under
the UN's Refugee Resettlement Programme.
The ministry said the group's arrival results from
McDowell's announcement in February to accept a
large group of refugees from the UNHCR camp near
Ruwayshid in Jordan on humanitarian grounds.
Ministry officials selected the group in April and
the refugees are undertaking a six-week language and
orientation training course before being permanently
resettled in Dublin and County Leitrim in the north
midlands.
"This group of Iranian Kurds fled from Iran to Iraq
between 1979 and 1981 where they were accommodated
in an area known as Al Tash," the ministry said.
"Following heightened insecurity associated with the
Spring 2003 military intervention in Iraq, the group
fled to the Jordanian border where they lived in the
'No Man's Land' refugee camp."
In May 2005 the Jordanian government agreed to
transfer the group to the Ruwayshid refugee camp for
security reasons."
"Under Jordanian law, the group were considered as
temporary visitors and, as such, were entitled to a
maximum of six months residency after which they are
vulnerable to refoulement," the ministry said.
The UNHCR proposed to close the Ruwayshid camp later
this year.
"In all, these families have spent over 25 years in
various temporary camp-like sites - the children
have known no other kind of existence," the ministry
statement said.
Refugees have been admitted into Ireland from 16
different countries to date under the programme run
by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
AFP
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