Contact:
Deljou Abadi-Director
Iranian Refugees' Alliance, Inc.
+ 1-212-260-7460
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April 24, 2003
Press Release
IRANIAN KURDS AT RISK IN NORTHERN IRAQ AND TURKEY
UN agency and Turkish government withhold resettlement and protection
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warehoused
more than 5,000 Kurdish Iranian refugees indefinitely in Northern Iraq and
Turkey within arm's reach of their persecutors, Iranian Refugees' Alliance
said in a new report released today. UNHCR, the governments of Turkey and
Iraq and the international community are failing to protect Iranian Kurdish
refugees in these two countries, and should arrange their prompt
resettlement to third countries. At the time of release, post-Saddam Iraq
occupied by the US and UK forces is a scene of severe humanitarian crisis
and great uncertainty. For the moment and even after regime change, third
country resettlement for Iranian refugees is likely to remain their only
reliable protection and durable solution.
"Iran-backed assassins are persecuting & killing members of this vulnerable
group of refugees in Northern Iraq for years, but when the refugees flee to
find safety in Turkey UNHCR denies them support and protection by calling
them 'irregular movers' and strikes them from the public record," said
Iranian Refugees' Alliance's director, Deljou Abadi. "UNHCR's policies are
not just harming these people but also isolating them from international
concern."
In recent years, Iranian refugees have paid dearly for UNHCR's so-called
irregular mover policy. In June 1998 "irregular mover" Karim Tujali was
arrested by Turkish police and handed over to the Iranian authorities. After
imprisonment and torture Karim Tujali was executed by hanging on January 20,
2002.
The 52-page report, entitled Off the radar screen: UNHCR/Government neglect
imperils thousands of Iranian Kurdish refugees in Turkey and Northern Iraq,
documents the plight of four thousand people still trapped in Northern Iraq
and more than one thousand refugees who have fled from Northern Iraq to
Turkey since early 2001.
The report presents public documents and interviews with Iranian refugees to
show how Iranian dissidents forced to shelter in the unstable Kurdish
autonomous zone are exposed to the Iranian government's escalating campaign
of violence and intimidation. UNHCR concedes that these refugees' only hope
of permanent safety is resettlement, but it has suspended all resettlement
since 1999.
Left with no alternative, some refugees have moved to Turkey, where they
hope they will finally reach permanent safety via resettlement. They report
that UNHCR/Northern Iraq staff encouraged them to move.
Unfortunately, now that they are in Turkey, the refugees' position is still
precarious. UNHCR/Turkey labels them as "irregular movers" (refugees who
leave their country of first asylum where they have obtained "effective
protection" for non-compelling reasons) and refuses to assist them. Since
February 2002 the agency has also refused to register the refugees. They are
therefore condemned to live in a shadow-world, struck from the public
record. They receive no financial help or access to health-care, and are
not permitted to work, though some do find employment on the illegal labor
market. The Turkish authorities are at best uncooperative. At worst they
detain the refugees and return them to Northern Iraq or even Iran.
UNHCR began to resettle Iranian refugees from Northern Iraq after the
creation of the autonomous Kurdish zone in 1991, but it was always a
grindingly slow and unpredictable process. UNHCR blames the Iraqi government
for the 1999 resettlement suspension, saying that it refused to provide exit
visas. Iraqi government officials reportedly blame UNHCR for the halt in
resettlement.
UNHCR has not revealed the details behind the freeze, or explained why it
has failed either to resolve the supposed exit-visa dispute, or get refugees
out by other routes. However, the report shows that UNHCR/Turkey is not
operating this policy in order to conserve precious and scarce opportunities
for resettlement. According to its own statements, UNHCR fails to fill
thousands of third government offers for resettlement places every year.
For brief periods (in 1995-1996 and in 2000) UNHCR completely reversed its
policy. In 2000, it resettled 550 refugees in a few short months. "Right
now, UNHCR is an immovable obstacle in the path of this group of people
seeking safety, but for brief periods, when it decided to put refugees'
interests first, it showed how effective it could be in moving them swiftly
out of harm's way" said Abadi.
To read the report, Off the radar screen: UNHCR/Government neglect imperils
thousands of Iranian Kurdish refugees in Turkey and Northern Iraq, please
see http://www.irainc.org/text/pub/NIreport2.pdf
--
Iranian Refugees' Alliance, Inc.
Cooper Station
P.O.Box 316
New York, NY 10276-0316 USA
tel/fax: 212-260-7460
email: [log in to unmask]
url: http://www.irainc.org
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