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Amnesty International is
deeply concerned about the UK government's
plan to forcibly return scores of rejected
Iraqi asylum-seekers to Kurdish areas in
Iraq, which the organisation considers are
neither stable nor safe. Returns reportedly
began at the weekend.
The assumption that
people can return to Iraq in safety and with
dignity because they are returned to Kurdish
areas is a dangerous proposition. The UK
should carefully consider the consequences
that its decision may have for those people.
In light of the lack of
security and widespread human rights abuses
in the country, Amnesty International
believes that rejected Iraqi asylum-seekers
should not be forced to return to any part
of Iraq.
The security situation in
Iraq has continued to deteriorate in the
past few months. Hundreds of civilians have
been killed and hundreds more injured in
attacks by armed groups.
Some died or were wounded
in attacks aimed primarily at US-led forces
but others were victims of direct attacks
intended to cause the greatest possible
civilian loss of life.
Some attacks have been
carried out indiscriminately by suicide
bombers; others have been carefully targeted
assassinations of police personnel or
individuals connected to the Iraqi
transitional government.
US-led forces too have
been responsible for gross human rights
violations against Iraqi civilians,
including excessive use of force, often
resulting in deaths, torture or other
ill-treatment, long-term detention without
charge or trial and arbitrary arrests.
While most of the
violence reported in the media is taking
place in Baghdad and in the areas west and
northwest of the capital, killings,
revenge-killings, and abductions do take
place in the Kurdish areas in the north and
in southern Iraq, but they rarely receive
media coverage.
At this time, the return
of Iraqis must be completely voluntary.
People whose asylum claims have been
dismissed can only be returned when
sufficient guarantees are in place to ensure
that their return is safe and dignified.
To physically force
people back, or to deprive them of their
rights in a way that leaves them with no
choice but to return would be a breach of
international human rights and refugee law. |