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Iraqi Kurdistan officials ban flights
returning failed asylum seekers from UK
1.9.2010
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At
least 15 Iraqi and Kurdish asylum seekers are due to
be forcibly returned to Baghdad, a pressure group
says
September 1, 2010
LONDON, — Home Office deportation
flights are being prevented from taking failed
asylum seekers directly to Kurdistan region in
Iraq's north because of a diplomatic dispute with
the Kurdistan regional government (KRG).
A ban has in effect been placed on incoming flights
from the UK landing forcibly returned Kurds at the
regional airport in Erbil. Political objections and
local protests have led to the UK Border Agency
redirecting the planes to Baghdad.
Another round-up of failed Iraqi asylum seekers has
been ordered in the past week. At least 60 people
are now being held at Colnbrook detention centre,
near Heathrow, awaiting removal by charter flight.
Those about to be deported have been given tickets
dated 1 or 6 September.
Thousands of Iraqi refugees remain in Britain, many
having arrived before the 2003 invasion when Saddam
Hussein was persecuting the Kurds.
'New life'
The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR)
said a further flight was due to leave for the Iraqi
capital on 6 September, carrying as many as 50
refugees. |
At least sixty people are being held at Colnbrook
detention centre, near Heathrow, awaiting
deportation to Iraq. Photograph: Tim Ockenden/PA
Oakington detention centre in Cambridge houses
refugees fighting forcible deportation. Photo: PA |
In protesting at what it sees as the unfair
treatment of Iraqis and Kurds living in the UK, the
pressure group referred to the case of Herman Osman
who it said was being held at the Oakington
detention centre in Cambridge.
He is quoted by the federation as saying: "I have
lived for 10 years in this country. I have no
criminal convictions. I have always lived right. I
have built a new life here and now they are sending
me back to the same situation I ran away from."
Mr Osman added: "I ran away from a militia group in
Kurdistan and they are sending me back to Baghdad. I
don't have any family there, I don't even speak
Arabic. So what am I meant to do?"
Advice on the Foreign Office website, updated on 6
August, warns Britons not to travel to Baghdad and
its surrounding areas, and against all but essential
travel to several other provinces.
It says: "Although there has been a decrease in the
level of violence throughout Iraq, the situation
remains highly dangerous with a continuing high
threat of terrorism throughout the country (except
in the Kurdistan Region)."
The Home Office's forced repatriation of asylum
seekers denied permission to remain in Britain has
been diplomatically fraught. The first flight to
Baghdad last year led to airport officials in the
Iraqi capital refusing to accept all but a handful
of passengers. Most were denied entry and sent back
to the UK.
To assuage political sensitivities, Iraqi interior
ministry officials are permitted the unusual
privilege of interviewing and screening detained
asylum seekers in UK detention centres to confirm
they will accept each individual.
The UK policy of sending deportees back to, or
through, the central provinces of Iraq, which
include Baghdad, is in defiance of guidelines issued
by the United Nations high commissioner for
refugees,www.ekurd.netwhich
warns that the area remains unsafe due to suicide
bombs and attacks by al-Qaida militants.
One Iraqi deported from the UK was killed by a car
bomb in Kirkuk in 2007. The continuing violence
claimed more than 60 lives following a series of
co-ordinated blasts in Iraqi cities during just one
day – 25 August – last week.
The KRG, the semi-autonomous administration that
runs the Kurdistan region of north-east Iraq,
controls its own militia. For many years, it has
objected to forcible returns of failed asylum
seekers from western European countries, threatening
to withdraw diplomatic co-operation.
Many deportation flights from the UK have
nonetheless been sent to Erbil; on the first flights
deportees were ordered to wear flak jackets for
their return to what was deemed a safe country.
An official at the KRG representative office in
London said: "The KRG has asked the British
government to send only those people who want to go
back. It is opposed to forcible deportations."
The last UK deportation flight to Kurdistan was
about five months ago. The Home Office now accepts
that it will have to send Kurdish Iraqis back via
Baghdad unless the KRG agrees to reopen direct
flights.
The border agency told the Guardian: "UKBA only ever
returns those who both the agency and the courts are
satisfied do not need our protection and refuse to
leave voluntarily.
"Currently we have agreement with the government of
Iraq to return all Iraqi citizens to Baghdad. We
make arrangements for those who require onward
travel to their home towns, and this includes those
travelling to the KR [Kurdish region].
"These arrangements worked well on the recent
charter flights to Baghdad and we are confident they
will continue to do so."
Political opposition to forcible deportations has
been led by the International Federation of Iraqi
Refugees, which has organised protests both in
western European countries and within Kurdistan.
More than 2 million Iraqis fled the sectarian
violence which erupted after the 2003 invasion. Most
sought sanctuary in neighbouring Arab states but
many were attracted by the opportunities of
employment in the EU.
Richard Whittel, of the Coalition to Stop
Deportations to Iraq, said: "It is inspiring that
popular pressure in Kurdistan forced the government
there to take a stand against these deportations but
disturbing that our government persists with them,
pandering to the myth that immigration is to blame
for the country's problems."
Among the common complaints raised by opponents of
forced removals have been persistent allegations
that failed asylum seekers are mistreated by
security guards when they are forced on to planes in
Britain for flights back to Iraq.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
guardian co.uk | bbc co
uk
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