|
UK: The Home Office has been criticised
for deporting 38 Kurds
14.2.2007
|
|
|
|
February 14, 2007
UK, -- The Home Office has been criticised
for deporting 38 failed asylum-seekers to
Kurdistan-Iraq despite the escalating violence
there. The group was flown amid tight security by
military aircraft from RAF Brize Norton in
Oxfordshire to Erbil in Kurdistan region (northern
Iraq) yesterday.
The 38, who boarded the flight in handcuffs, are
believed to be the third batch of asylum-seekers to
be sent to the area against their will. Although
less troubled than the rest of Iraq, the region
faces a threat from terrorism.
The Home Office says such removals are essential to
"maintain the integrity" of the asylum system and
that no one will be put at risk by being returned.
But Dashty Jamal, of the International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees, said: "We are very worried for the
lives. We believe they are in danger." |
Protest against deportaion of Kurdish asylum-seekers |
Within hours of their arrival in Iraq, a truck
rigged with explosives blew up near a Baghdad
college, killing 18 people.
The previous day, bomb blasts ripped apart two
crowded city markets. There has also been a wave of
killings in Kirkuk, 60 miles from Erbil, over the
past month.
A spokesman for Amnesty International said: "These
forced removals are sending a wave of fear
throughout the Iraqi community in the UK.
"They are putting people's lives at risk. In
post-conflict situations, people should only be
returned if there is stability and a durable peace.
Only a fantasist could say that of Iraq."
Anna Reisenberger, the Refugee Council's acting
chief executive, said: "To return what amounts to a
token number of asylum-seekers to a place where
their safety cannot be guaranteed is alarming."
The argument the Home Office has used to deport
Iraqi-Kurdish asylum seekers to Kurdistan (northern
Iraq) is that the northern parts of the country,
unlike the rest, are "relatively safe". This is, of
course, totally unfounded. In its position paper on
Iraq, UNHCR recently said that the security
situation in the three northern governorates (Sulaimaniyah,
Erbil and Duhok), "remains tense and unpredictable"
and that "careful consideration" must be given
before any returns are carried out. The UK is so far
the only European country to forcibly 'remove'
asylum seekers to Iraq.
Even the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), who
were apparently aware of the Home Office's intention
to deport a number of rejected Iraqi-Kurdish asylum
seekers, do not seem to agree with this policy. KRG
representative in the UK Bayan Rahman has reportedly
written to the Home Office saying they "object to
any forced returns".
"This is so ridiculous," said one Iraq refugee, who
preferred to keep anonymous, commenting on the Home
Office's declaring Northern Iraq "safe to return".
"Don't these people read the papers?!" he added.
independent co.uk | Agencies
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 