Statewatch News Online: UK deportations to Iraq contravene UN advice
28 March 2012
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UK deportations
to Iraq contravene UN advice 
The
week from 20-26 June is Refugee Week, celebrated by many people
across the UK, including a wide number of voluntary and refugee
organisations seeking to "discover and celebrate the
contributions refugees bring to the UK". [1] 2011 also
marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the UN Convention
on Refugees. Damian Green, the Immigration Minister, recently
attended a Refugee Council event in Sheffield where he spoke
of Britain's "proud tradition of helping those who need
our protection and of giving genuine refugees the support they
need to start a new life in the UK". [2] However, the
proposed deportation of over 70 Iraqi nationals indicates that
the asylum system in the UK continues to violate the rights and
dignity of many of those individuals subject to it.
On 9th June the National
Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) reported that
"[a]t least 70 Iraqi refugees have been rounded up in
the UK over the last few weeks", [3] in preparation
for deportation. At Campsfield House detention centre 24 Iraqis,
along with 14 Afghan detainees undertook a hunger strike in protest
at the proposed deportation. The Iraqi detainees recently received
visits from Iraqi government officials to confirm their nationality,
and apparently to ask whether they were willing to return to
Iraq. Earlier in June The Guardian reported the experience of
one detainee who was interviewed by an Iraqi official. He was
denied legal representation at the interview and apparently threatened
by the official. [4]
As of 21st June, it seems that there will be 72 people on the
flight, which is due to leave the UK at 23:00. Although there
is a chance of last-minute injunctions being issued by legal
representatives for the detainees, it seems likely that the deportation
will go ahead. It has not been possible to find out from where
the flight will be leaving, nor which company will be operating
the flight. However, it is clear that the UK's government's insistence
on undertaking deportations to Iraq flies in the face of advice
from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which
states that:
"Iraqi asylum applicants originating from Iraq's governates
of Baghdad, Dyala, Ninewa and Sala-al-Din, as well as from Kirkuk
province, should continue to benefit from international protection…
Our position reflects the volatile security situation and the
still high level of prevailing violence, security incidents,
and human rights violations taking place in this part of Iraq."
"The UK government is aware of UNCHR's recommendations
but does not share our assessment of the situation in Iraq."
[5]
This is the latest of many deportations to Iraq undertaken by
the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA), which started returning
failed asylum seekers to Iraq in 2005. While in that time around
900 individuals have been deported to the country, not all attempts
to removal have succeeded. In 2009 a charter flight was returned
to the UK by the Iraqi authorities, with only eight of 40 deportees
having left the plane in Baghdad. In April 2010 the attempted
deportation to a number of people to the Northern Iraqi province
of Kurdistan failed following a demonstration at Sulaimaniyah
International Airport in Kurdistan, where protestors (who included
MPs from the Kurdish Government) threatened to occupy the runway.
The plane never left Britain.
Those due to be deported on the 21st June will all be transported
to Baghdad. Individuals who have spoken with some of the detainees
have stated that some of them are under the impression that they
will subsequently have to make their own way to their onward
destinations. This directly contravenes the UKBA's stated policy
of "mak[ing] arrangements for those who require onward
travel to their home towns, and this includes those travelling
to the Kurdistan Region." [6] A number of those due
facing deportation have reportedly said they do not know how
they will get home; furthermore, several of those people being
deported come from those very areas to which the UNCHR has advised
people should not be returned.
The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) has noted
that around 700 Iraqi asylum seekers - mostly Kurds - are due
to be deported from four different European countries in the
next month. The organisation has claimed that the Iraqi government
"signed a deal with European countries wanting to deport
Iraqis in return for dropping Iraqi debts", a claim
that has been denied by the Swedish government. [7] In Sweden,
the proposed expulsions have led to demonstrations outside detention
centres; such a protest recently led to the arrest of ten people.
[8] In Britain, despite the vociferous campaign against the war
that led to such a sustained period of violence and insecurity
in Iraq, support for those facing deportation to the country
has been significantly more muted, although there are a number
of organisations that continue to campaign against government
policy in this area. [9]
Iraqis are not the only people subject to being removed to a
country deemed by many to be unsafe. Damian Green boasted in
a recent speech the in the last year nearly 2,000 people were
removed from the UK, "to destinations like Afghanistan,
Iraq and Nigeria", and that the government has "expanded
the range of countries to which we remove - including opening
up routes and removing in volume to Sri Lanka, Iraq and next
Zimbabwe". [10] The insistence of the UK government
on continuing to return individuals to those areas of Iraq deemed
unsafe by the UNHCR demonstrates that the UK's "proud tradition
of helping those who need our protection" involves a particularly
selective view of both historical and contemporary attitudes
to asylum seekers in the United Kingdom.
Sources
[1] Refugee Week
[2] Refugee Council Online, 'Immigration
Minister marks Refugee Week in Sheffield'
[3] National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, 'UK
plans mass deportation of Iraqis; Hunger strike in detention
centre', June 9 2011
[4] Owen Boycott, 'Failed
Iraq asylum seekers screened for forced deportation',
The Guardian, 3 June 2011
[5] National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, 'Act
now: support the campaign against mass expulsion to Iraq',
June 16 2011
[6] BBC News, 'Iraqi
asylum seekers 'to be forcibly deported'', 31 August
2010
[7] PUKmedia, 'Baghdad
awaits arrival of 70 deported Kurdish refugees', 19 June
2011
[8] Unt.se, 'Tio
frihetsberövade vid demonstration mot avvisning'
14 June 2011
[9] National Coalition
of Anti-Deportation Campaigns; Coalition
Against Deportations to Iraq; No
Borders UK Network
[10] Damian Green, 'National
Asylum Stakeholder Forum Speech', 26 May 2011
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