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UK: Forced mass deportations to Iraq - a betrayal of the Kurds

01 January 2007

Despite the escalating violence in Iraq the Home Office deported 38 failed Kurdish asylum seekers to the Kurdish-controlled north of the country on 13 February. The 38, who were forced to board the plane in handcuffs, were flown by chartered aircraft in high security conditions from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to Erbil, only 60 miles from Kirkuk, where there has been a spate of killings in recent months. The government is thought to have recently confirmed its decision not to return asylum seekers to Iraqi war zones, and claims that those returned to the north will face no threat. Their analysis is widely contested and the Refugee Council points out:"It [the north of Iraq] may be less dangerous than Baghdad, but that does not mean it is not plagued by violence - it is a dangerous place [and] there is no rule of law". There was also opposition from the United Nations, which has said that all repatriations to Iraq should be on a voluntary basis:

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) believes that the situation in Iraq is still extremely unstable and dangerous, characterised by a general lack of law and order and the erratic provision of basic services.

It is thought to be at least the third occasion that the government has chartered a plane to return asylum seekers to the northern Iraq. The first mass deportation was on 19 November 2005 when 15 Iraqis were forcibly deported via Cyprus. The second event happened last September when 30 people were forcibly removed to Kurdistan. Eyewitnesses at the Colnbrook detention centre said that during the second event the men were handcuffed and accompanied by Home Office security guards; they were driven to Brize Norton by coach where they were transferred to a military plane. Flying into Erbil airport they were given bulletproof jackets and US $100. The deportations are seen as just the latest betrayal of the Kurds by the British government, with the Kurdistan regional government stressing that they do not want it to forcibly return anyone to Kurdistan.

"UN Humanitarian Briefing on Iraq"; Observer 4.2.07; Independent 14.2.07lokr