NO DEPORTATIONS TO IRAQ! PICKET THE IOM! Thursday 15th May, 12.00-2.00pm


IOM PICKET CALL OUT

In March this year, news was leaked to the press that the Borders and
Immigration Agency would be seeking the return of 1,400 'failed' asylum
seekers to Iraq.

The memo read:"We consider that voluntary returns are by far the more
dignified way of making a return, but if individuals fail to leave, their
removal may be enforced," one interpretation of this statement could be:
volunteer to go, or you will be deported.

The system of “voluntary” returns is managed by the International
Organization for Migration. It wields the carrot (financial incentives)
whilst the boot boys of the British Immigration Agency wield the stick of
incarceration and dawn raids. Let us make this clear: They are, despite
their continued protestations, a part of the forced removal system.

The claim that the system they operate is voluntary in nature is
undermined by the UK’s policy of withdrawing even minimum financial
support (so-called Section 4 Support) from those Iraqis who fail to sign
up for the Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintergration Programme
(VARRP), even if they originate from the war-torn Central or Southern
regions. Faced with the alternative of destitution, several thousand
Iraqis have therefore returned through VARRP. A internal IOM report
documents how they are mistrusted in the UK by Zimbabwean refugees.

In Iraq, meanwhile, the IOM's representative states: “Many returnees do
not have adequate food or health care while their homes have often been
damaged or are being lived in by other families”. The situation for those
returning is grim and isn't necessarily an improvement from when they were
displaced...many returnees are unemployed while only a fraction have
received any form of humanitarian assistance other than some food
rations."

Despite this, the IOM in the UK still encourages Iraqis to return home.
Worse of all, those who volunteer to return are required to sign a waiver
that reads: "the IOM has no responsibility for me and my dependents once I
return to Iraqi territory and I hereby release IOM from any liability in
this respect".

In this way, countries like the UK who want to be rid of refugees from war
torn countries and unsafe countries like Iraq, Afghanistan,Zimbabwe and
Somalia are shielded from any responsibility of what happens to those who
are returned.

The IOM have, since there inception in 1951, have been posing as a NGO who
are there to assist displaced people. The reality is that they are a de
facto arm of many governments deportations systems. Other than encouraging
people to return to unsafe countries, and thereby avoiding shielding there
host governments from a tarnished human rights' record, one of there most
controversial and continuing activities is administering the immigration
prison island of Nauru, for the Australian government.
It's time we expose them and shut them down.

Bristol No Borders

IOM Offices:

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
21 Westminster Palace Gardens
Artillery Row
London
SW1P 1RR

Tel: 020 7233 0001
Fax: 020 7233 3001
Free Phone number: 0800 783 2332

Park House Business Centre
10 Park Street
Bristol
BS1 5HX

Tel: 0117 907 4777

5th Floor
DBH Reception The Corn Exchange Fenwick Street
Liverpool
L2 7QL

Tel: 0151 225 0142

Manchester – every Wednesday morning, 9 am – 12 noon, Friends Meeting
House, 6 Mount St , Mancheter M2 5NS

Bolton – 1 st Wednesday of each month, 1 – 3.30 pm, BRASS office, Bolton
Methodist Mission, Victoria Hall, Knowsley St, Bolton BL1 2AS

Blackburn – 1 st Friday of each month, 10 am – 12 noon, Town Hall, King
William St , Blackburn BB1 7DY

Centrum Offices
38 Queen Street
Glasgow
G1 3DX

Tel: 0141 548 8116

References:

"Rot Here or Die There:Bleak Choices for Iraqi Refugees in Lebanon" (Human
Rights Watch Report,2007)

"Zimbabwe" prepared for IOM by Dominic M. Pasura
London, December 2006

"Zimbabwe: Evicted and Forsaken
Internally displaced persons in the aftermath of
Operation Murambatsvina" (Human Rights Watch Report,2005)

"The International Organization for Migration (IOM)and Human Rights
Protection in the Field: Current Concerns"
(Submitted by Human Rights Watch
IOM Governing Council Meeting
86th Session
November 18-21, 2003
Geneva)