Act now: support the campaign against mass expulsion to Iraq

Update 21 June, 17:15 – News just in that an injunction has stopped the flight. More details as they come in.

The UK government is planning a mass expulsion of mostly Kurdish refugees to Baghdad on Tuesday 21 June, at 23:00 hours. Campaigners, lawyers and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees have all raised serious concerns over the safety of the deportees in Iraq.

UPDATE: Mon 20 June – message received from UNHCR

Thank you for your email to UNHCR London on 16 June 2011 regarding the forced return of Iraqi nationals to Baghdad on Tuesday 21 June 2011.

Our position and advice to the United Kingdom (UK) Government is that Iraqi asylum applicants originating from Iraq’s governorates of Baghdad, Diyala, Ninewa and Salah-al-Din, as well as from Kirkuk province, should continue to benefit from international protection in the form of refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention or another form of protection depending on the circumstances of the case. Our position reflects the volatile security situation and the still high level of prevailing violence, security incidents, and human rights violations taking place in these parts of Iraq.

The UK Government is aware of UNHCR’s recommendations but does not share our assessment of the situation in Iraq.

Yours sincerely,

UNHCR London

You can join this campaign against deportations to Iraq – see below for details.

The United Nations refugee agency issued statements of concern in January this year, and in September 2010,  ahead of similar expulsions of Iraqis, calling for European states to grant protection, not deportation, particularly for refugees originating from the most violent areas of Iraq.

Baqubah

The UNHCR said their position “reflects the volatile security situation and the still high level of prevailing violence, security incidents, and human rights violations. UNHCR considers that serious – including indiscriminate – threats to life, physical integrity or freedom resulting from violence or events seriously disturbing public order are valid reasons for international protection.”

According to media reports and evidence collected by UNHCR and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, many of those who have been deported to Iraq in the past are now living in hiding, in fear of the persecution they originally left Iraq to flee. Some have been assassinated. Others have committed suicide only days after being deported or have been kidnapped and killed, while others have had mental breakdowns. Many more have had to leave the country and become refugees again.

Kirkuk, after bomb blast

Adam Aziz Ali is from the Diyala governate, one of the areas singled out by UNHCR as too dangerous to return people to. He has been living in the UK for almost four years, and had plans to marry his fiance, Joanne. He is now in detention, and has been told he will be on the June 21 charter flight. Only this week, on Tuesday in Adam’s home town of Baquba, at least eight people were killed and dozens were injured in two car bombs when a government building was stormed. The attack, claimed by an al-Qaeda group, is just one of many such events all across Iraq.

Ali Ako is from Kirkuk, another area specified by UNHCR as too dangerous to return people to. Ali fled Iraq in 2007, following death threats from an al-Qaeda group. He has been detained in the UK, and in fact has been moved between five different detention centres in the last two weeks, making it extremely difficult to keep in touch with his lawyer. The UK Home Office says it is safe for Ali to be returned, despite the increasing violence such as last months massive bomb which killed 27 and injured 84 people.

Adam and Ali are just two of the many refugees scheduled for this charter flight who are terrified not only being returned to a warzone, but of what may happen on arrival in Baghdad. Speaking to NCADC by phone today, Ali Ako told of Kurdish friends who had been dragged off the last flight to Baghdad, being kicked and punched by Iraqi army guards, and held in detention for days. And then on release there is problem of travelling hundreds of miles acros hostile territory to reach their home towns.

STOP DEPORTATIONS TO IRAQ!

Please take a few minutes to send an email or fax or letter to the UK Home Secretary, copied to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, appealing for an end to forced removals to Iraq.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1P 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 4745
(00 44 20 7035 4745 if you are faxing from outside UK)

Email:
mayt@parliament.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

COPY TO:

The UNHCR Representative in the United Kingdom
Strand Bridge House
138-142 Strand
London WC2R 1HH

phone: +44 20 7759 8090
fax: +44 20 7759 8119

email: gbrlo@unhcr.org

Dear Ms May

Forced removal of Iraqis by mass expulsion to Baghdad

I am writing to express my dismay that the UK government is to carry out a mass expulsion of mostly Kurdish men to Baghdad on Tuesday 21 June.

The UNHCR issued statements of concern in January this year, and in September 2010,  ahead of similar expulsions of Iraqis, calling for European states to grant protection, not deportation, particularly for refugees originating from the most violent areas of Iraq.

The UNHCR said their position “reflects the volatile security situation and the still high level of prevailing violence, security incidents, and human rights violations. UNHCR considers that serious – including indiscriminate – threats to life, physical integrity or freedom resulting from violence or events seriously disturbing public order are valid reasons for international protection.”

By all accounts, the situation has not improved in these areas since January. The UK government cannot guarantee the safety of these deportees.

According to media reports and evidence collected by UNHCR and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, many of those who have been deported to Iraq in the past are now living in hiding, in fear of the persecution they originally left Iraq to flee. Some have been assassinated. Others have committed suicide only days after being deported or have been kidnapped and killed, while others have had mental breakdowns. Many more have had to leave the country and become refugees again.

I have read about these accounts, and I do not believe that you can guarantee the safety of these men. In fact, it appears that you are putting their human rights at risk. I believe that they are at a very real risk of being subjected to treatment that amounts to ‘torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’, contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The UK as a signatory to the ECHR has pledged ‘not to expel someone…where substantial grounds are shown that…he will face a real risk of being subjected to treatment contract to Article 3′.

UNHCR has frequently appealed to states to ensure that asylum applicants originating from Iraq’s central governorates of Baghdad, Diyala, Ninewa and Salah-al-Din, as well as from Kirkuk province, benefit from international protection in the form of refugee status under the 1951 Convention or another form of protection depending on the circumstances of the case. We understand that many of those being returned on Wednesday come from these areas, including Adam Aziz Ali, HO ref A1350023 from Diyala, and Ali Ako, ref A1361785/2, from Kirkuk.

Please heed the warning of the United Nations. You can use you power as Home Secretary to cancel this charter, and review the applications of those concerned. Surely it is not so difficult to agree with the UNHCR, and grant protection until it is safe for the people to return home?

Yours sincerely

name
address
date

copied to:
The UNHCR Representative in the United Kingdom