|
UNHCR concerned at ongoing deportations of
Iraqis from Europe
3.9.2010 |
|
|
|
September 3, 2010
BAGHDAD, — UNHCR is very concerned by
on-going forced returns of Iraqi citizens from
Western European countries. On September 1st, a
chartered flight with 61 people on board, mainly
Iraqis who had been residing in Sweden, Norway,
Denmark and the United Kingdom, landed at Baghdad
airport. UNHCR has so far not been able to confirm
reports that three Iranians were among those on
board.
UNHCR's guidelines for Iraq ask governments not to
forcibly return people originating from the
governorates of Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and
Salah Al-din, in view of the serious human rights
violations and continuing security incidents in
these areas. Our position is that Iraqi asylum
applicants originating from these five governorates
should benefit from international protection in the
form of refugee status under the 1951 Refugee
Convention or an alternative form of protection.
|
 |
UNHCR considers that serious risks, including
indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity
or freedom resulting from violence or events
seriously disturbing public order, are valid reasons
for international protection.
Some of the individuals among the group returned on
Wednesday may be destined for safer areas such as
the Kurdistan Region Government Region, others may
have elected to return voluntarily. Nonetheless, of
the 11 individuals we were able to interview on
arrival some originated from Baghdad, and at least
one person was a Christian from Mosul, in the
Governorate of Ninewa. The security situation in
that Governorate remains extremely volatile.
Similarly in the Baghdad Governorate, the security
situation remains unstable with increased attacks
and several recent major security incidents. On
August 25th, for example, a series of coordinated
attacks throughout the country including suicide
bombs resulted in 62 people being killed and 250
wounded. Car explosions, roadside bombs, mortar
attacks and kidnapping remain daily threats for
Iraqis.
We strongly urge European governments to provide
Iraqis with protection until the situation in their
areas of origin in Iraq allows for safe and
voluntary returns. In this critical time of
transition, we also encourage all efforts to develop
conditions in Iraq that are conducive to sustainable
and voluntary return.
The on-going violence in Iraq has resulted in large
scale internal and external displacement of the
Iraqi population. Over 1.5 million people remain
displaced within the country while hundreds of
thousands of people have found refuge in
neighbouring countries,www.ekurd.netmainly
in Syria and Jordan. We are concerned about the
signal that forced returns from Western Europe could
give to Iraq's neighbouring countries, which,
despite a score of national priorities, are hosting
large numbers of Iraqi refugees.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, unhcr org
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
®
