Protest against forcible deportations to Iraqi Kurdistan – London, 16th April
Stop Deportation | 14.04.2009 10:13 | Migration
Anti-deportation campaigners are staging a demonstration on Thursday outside the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government office in London to highlight its complicity in the forcible mass deportations of Iraqi-Kurdish refugees. The protest, called by the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) and supported by many groups including London No Borders, the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and the SOAS Detainee Support Group, will coincide with an international demonstration called by IFIR outside the UN offices in Geneva. No Borders South Wales is also holding a solidarity demonstration at the UK Border Agency office in Cardiff.
Time: Thursday, 16th April, 1pm
Place: Winchester House, 259-269 Old Marylebone Road, NW1 5RA
Nearest tube: Edgware Road
Time: Thursday, 16th April, 1pm
Place: Winchester House, 259-269 Old Marylebone Road, NW1 5RA
Nearest tube: Edgware Road
Since the US-UK-led invasion over six years ago, killings, bombings, abductions, severe poverty, mass unemployment and lack of basic services have become part of everyday life in Iraq. Even in the Kurdistan region, which the Home Office claims to be 'safer' than other parts of the country, people are fleeing the region everyday for fear of death and persecution.
Iraqis remain the highest percentage of all nationalities seeking refuge in neighbouring countries as well as in Europe and northern America. According to statistics compiled by the UN refugee agency, some 338,000 new applications for refugee status were submitted in 2007 in 43 industrialised countries, a 10 percent rise compared to 2006. This represented a mere 1 percent of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqis uprooted by the war. Thousands more have resorted to begging, prostitution or selling their internal organs to avoid destitution.
Yet, European countries such as the UK, Germany and Sweden are locking up Iraqi refugees in detention centres and forcibly deporting them back to the country they had fled. Several hundreds of Iraqi-Kurdish refugees have been forcibly deported from the UK in recent months. Many of them had fled the KRG authorities, to whose mercy they are being sent back. Separated from their friends and families (many have partners and children here), they are arrested, handcuffed and put on special charter flights that carry them to northern Iraq, where they are received by KRG security forces. Many of them have since committed suicide, been kidnapped or killed in car bombs. Others have gone into hiding or changed their names to avoid persecution.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, which is trading Iraqi-Kurdish refugees for financial gains, is complicit in these tragedies and should stop 'cooperating' with European governments against its own people.
Stop forcible deportations to Iraqi Kurdistan!
Defend Iraqi and Kurdish refugees against repressive policies!
Iraqis remain the highest percentage of all nationalities seeking refuge in neighbouring countries as well as in Europe and northern America. According to statistics compiled by the UN refugee agency, some 338,000 new applications for refugee status were submitted in 2007 in 43 industrialised countries, a 10 percent rise compared to 2006. This represented a mere 1 percent of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqis uprooted by the war. Thousands more have resorted to begging, prostitution or selling their internal organs to avoid destitution.
Yet, European countries such as the UK, Germany and Sweden are locking up Iraqi refugees in detention centres and forcibly deporting them back to the country they had fled. Several hundreds of Iraqi-Kurdish refugees have been forcibly deported from the UK in recent months. Many of them had fled the KRG authorities, to whose mercy they are being sent back. Separated from their friends and families (many have partners and children here), they are arrested, handcuffed and put on special charter flights that carry them to northern Iraq, where they are received by KRG security forces. Many of them have since committed suicide, been kidnapped or killed in car bombs. Others have gone into hiding or changed their names to avoid persecution.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, which is trading Iraqi-Kurdish refugees for financial gains, is complicit in these tragedies and should stop 'cooperating' with European governments against its own people.
Stop forcible deportations to Iraqi Kurdistan!
Defend Iraqi and Kurdish refugees against repressive policies!
Stop Deportation
Additions
IFIR's callout
14.04.2009 10:23
Human rights campaigners, trade unions and refugee rights organizations across Europe,
please join our campaign to defend Iraqi and Kurdish refugees
The American coalition forces attacked Iraq in the name of bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq instead they have brought terror and killing. It has been six years since the American led invasion of Iraq, yet killing, security, poverty, unemployment and lack of basic services continue in Iraq. Yet Iraqi refugees remain the highest percentage of any nationality entering neighbouring countries, Europe, America and worldwide.
The situation of the Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Europe is a tragedy. Many thousands of Iraqi refugees have resorted to begging, prostitution, selling their internal organs to avoid destitution.
European countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany are treating Iraqi refugees without compassion. Many have been detained and locked up in detention centers across Europe.
Both the UK and Swedish Goverments have made agreement with the Iraqi Government to return failed asylum seekers. The Iraqi Government is trading Iraqi asylum seekers lives for financial gain for the KRG and Iraqi Government. Shame on the Iraqi Government for making such a deal. They cannot provide security and safety for their citizens, which has led to thousands of people leaving Iraq, and yet they make such a dishonest deal for money in exchange for the future of Iraqi refugees lives.
Several 100 Iraqi refugees have been returned to Northern Iraq and more recently Bahgdad. The ruturned asylum seekers have been seperated from their friends and families – many have partners and children in Europe. Many of the returned asylum seekers are forced to live in hiding to avoid persecution. People who have been deported have committed suicide, been kidnapped and killed in car bombs.
IFIR has called a two day lobby in front of the UN office in Geneva. We ask all Human and Refugee rights campaigners and labour and Trade Union activists to stand with us to stop this policy against Iraqi asylum seekers in European country. With your help we can put an end to these policies against Iraqi & Kurdish refugees.
To prevent further suffering, the International Federation of the Iraqi Refugees calls upon the United Nations to make the following demands out of a regard for compassion and human dignity:-
1. An immediate end to the policy of enforced deportation of Iraqi Kurdish refugees by all European countries.
2. Require all European governments to recognise that previous agreements, between the Iraqi Kurdish government and European countries regarding the deportation of refugees, as invalid because their safety simply cannot be guaranteed.
3. Require the release of all Iraqi refugees from prisons and detention centres, who have been detained because of illegal entry or their leave to remain, has expired. Those who have committed a crime should be charged and tried in the country where the crime was committed not forcibly deported.
4. Demand that Kurdish and Iraqi asylum seekers, be allowed to work to support themselves and have the right to family reunion.
5. Those asylum seekers who are disabled, ill, or destitute and cannot work should be treated with compassion.
6. Asylum seekers who are destitute in countries outside Europe should be supported with health services and education or transferred to a European country.
If these demands are to be met we need your support:
- please join our demonstrations outside the United Nations office in Geneva on the 16 and 17 April for further information please contact (Ahmad Ali )on (0788532004)or (Jamal Koshish) on(0787557786) for queries regarding the campaign contact campaign co-ordinator( Rebwar Arif )
rebwar.arif@hotmail.com
- if you can not attend the demonstrations please send letters calling on the United Nations to comply with the seven demands listed above to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, Avenue de la Paix 14, 1211 Genève 10, Switzerland or fax 022 917 00 32 - Fax (please send IFIR a copy of your letter to ifir@hotmail.co.uk)
- if you can, please send financial support to enable IFIR to pay for the transport costs of asylum seekers who wish to attend the demonstrations. Please send cheques payable to ‘Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq’ to IFIR, PO.BOX1575, ILFORD, IG1 3BZ, LONDON
The Secretariat for International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), 31/3/2009
please join our campaign to defend Iraqi and Kurdish refugees
The American coalition forces attacked Iraq in the name of bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq instead they have brought terror and killing. It has been six years since the American led invasion of Iraq, yet killing, security, poverty, unemployment and lack of basic services continue in Iraq. Yet Iraqi refugees remain the highest percentage of any nationality entering neighbouring countries, Europe, America and worldwide.
The situation of the Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Europe is a tragedy. Many thousands of Iraqi refugees have resorted to begging, prostitution, selling their internal organs to avoid destitution.
European countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany are treating Iraqi refugees without compassion. Many have been detained and locked up in detention centers across Europe.
Both the UK and Swedish Goverments have made agreement with the Iraqi Government to return failed asylum seekers. The Iraqi Government is trading Iraqi asylum seekers lives for financial gain for the KRG and Iraqi Government. Shame on the Iraqi Government for making such a deal. They cannot provide security and safety for their citizens, which has led to thousands of people leaving Iraq, and yet they make such a dishonest deal for money in exchange for the future of Iraqi refugees lives.
Several 100 Iraqi refugees have been returned to Northern Iraq and more recently Bahgdad. The ruturned asylum seekers have been seperated from their friends and families – many have partners and children in Europe. Many of the returned asylum seekers are forced to live in hiding to avoid persecution. People who have been deported have committed suicide, been kidnapped and killed in car bombs.
IFIR has called a two day lobby in front of the UN office in Geneva. We ask all Human and Refugee rights campaigners and labour and Trade Union activists to stand with us to stop this policy against Iraqi asylum seekers in European country. With your help we can put an end to these policies against Iraqi & Kurdish refugees.
To prevent further suffering, the International Federation of the Iraqi Refugees calls upon the United Nations to make the following demands out of a regard for compassion and human dignity:-
1. An immediate end to the policy of enforced deportation of Iraqi Kurdish refugees by all European countries.
2. Require all European governments to recognise that previous agreements, between the Iraqi Kurdish government and European countries regarding the deportation of refugees, as invalid because their safety simply cannot be guaranteed.
3. Require the release of all Iraqi refugees from prisons and detention centres, who have been detained because of illegal entry or their leave to remain, has expired. Those who have committed a crime should be charged and tried in the country where the crime was committed not forcibly deported.
4. Demand that Kurdish and Iraqi asylum seekers, be allowed to work to support themselves and have the right to family reunion.
5. Those asylum seekers who are disabled, ill, or destitute and cannot work should be treated with compassion.
6. Asylum seekers who are destitute in countries outside Europe should be supported with health services and education or transferred to a European country.
If these demands are to be met we need your support:
- please join our demonstrations outside the United Nations office in Geneva on the 16 and 17 April for further information please contact (Ahmad Ali )on (0788532004)or (Jamal Koshish) on(0787557786) for queries regarding the campaign contact campaign co-ordinator( Rebwar Arif )
rebwar.arif@hotmail.com - if you can not attend the demonstrations please send letters calling on the United Nations to comply with the seven demands listed above to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, Avenue de la Paix 14, 1211 Genève 10, Switzerland or fax 022 917 00 32 - Fax (please send IFIR a copy of your letter to
ifir@hotmail.co.uk) - if you can, please send financial support to enable IFIR to pay for the transport costs of asylum seekers who wish to attend the demonstrations. Please send cheques payable to ‘Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq’ to IFIR, PO.BOX1575, ILFORD, IG1 3BZ, LONDON
The Secretariat for International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), 31/3/2009
IFIR
e-mail:
ifir@hotmail.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.federationifir.com
Protest in Cardiff
14.04.2009 12:06
No Borders South Wales will be holding a demonstration in solidarity with the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) outside the UK Border Agency, 31-33 Newport Road, Cardiff on Friday 17th April at 1pm.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/427298.html
http://noborderswales.org.uk/2009/04/11/stop-deportations-to-iraq/
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/427298.html http://noborderswales.org.uk/2009/04/11/stop-deportations-to-iraq/
No Borders South Wales
e-mail:
noborderswales@riseup.net
Homepage:
http://noborderswales.org.uk