The Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq protests in the strongest possible terms against these arrests.

We have said before, and we repeat now, that Iraq, including Kurdistan, is dangerous, and that it is wrong to return people there. People who had problems with the KDP or PUK or Islamist groups in the past will still be at risk of the same problems if they are sent back now – the KDP and PUK are still in power, and the Islamists are still active.

The general security situation is not good[2], and conditions for ordinary people are very difficult even in Kurdistan – little electricity or oil for heating or cooking, water shortages, inflation, housing shortages, lack of decent jobs, restrictions on freedom of speech etc. Frequent protests take place against poor living conditions and the corruption and incompetence of the authorities, and the protests are often met with violence and mass arrests.

Indeed the latest UNHCR report on Iraq recognises that conditions in Kurdistan are problematic, it lists some of these problems, and says that states may therefore wish to extend humanitarian protection to people who have not been found in need of protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention[3].

CSDIraq is aware that people who were forcibly returned last year have indeed suffered various problems since their return, and some have had to leave the area again. But the Home Office seems determined to send people back and to ignore the reality of conditions there. CSDIraq recently received a reply to a letter in which we explained why people should not be sent back. In their reply the Home Office still does not accept that many people were refused unfairly, or that conditions in Northern Iraq are unsuitable for returns, and tries to offload responsibility for what happens to people who went back voluntarily onto the International Organisation for Migration, the organisation the Home Office uses to operate “voluntary returns” to Northern Iraq.

We call on the Home Office to:

· recognise that Iraq is not safe, and that people should not be returned there.

· to regularise the status of asylum seekers from Iraq to whom they have so far refused protection, by giving them leave to remain, and the right either to work or to decent levels of benefits, in line with the proposals made by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in their document “Recognising Rights, Recognising Political Realities” published on 13 July;

· explain why they apparently plan to return people to Kurdistan even given the recent statements by UNHCR both about refugee protection and Iraq’s inability to deal with the IDPs it already has.


European Council for Refugees opposes forced and mandatory returns

The European Council on Exiles and Refugees said in its March 2006 report, “ECRE believes that the current situation in Iraq is such that the mandatory or forced return of Iraqis is unacceptable, and recommends a continued ban on forced return to any part of the country, including the Kurdish Autonomous Region.”

No Deportations to Iraq!

For more information contact Sarah Parker on 0208 809 0633, email  sarahp107@hotmail.com or Dashty Jamal (International Federation of Iraqi Refugees) on 0785 603 2991. Email:  d.jamal@ntlworld.com. Federation of Iraqi Refugees- Manchester, Burhan Fatah: 07929010257. Office number: 0161 2342784.Email:  burhanfatah@aol.com. Nottingham;Jasm Ghafor;  jasm_rg@yahoo.co.uk : See also our website www.csdiraq.com

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Iraq: Aid agencies cannot cope with displacement, says UNHCR
Reuters and Alert Net 9 January
 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk//IRIN/9aea0b7b192ff8fbf05c1f6df1c54dcd.htm

[2] see eg Islamic extremist group says it killed 3 Kurdish leaders
BY JONATHAN S. LANDAYKnight Ridder Newspapers I January 2007
 http://home.cogeco.ca/~observer/10-2-03-ansar-says-killed-3puk.html

[3] Iraqis Outside Iraq (18 December 2006)
 http://www.unhcr.org/home/RSDLEGAL/458baf6f4.pdf