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Pushing Them Back
Sara Angheleddu / 12 March 2008
On 11 July 2007, the European Parliament passed a resolution to recognise "the efforts made by non-border countries of the region such as Egypt to assist Iraqi refugees" and "asks these countries to pursue their efforts" in their favour. The European Parliament also recommended respecting the fundamental rights of Iraqis and their access to basic services such as health and education "with the support of the international community".
Until this resolution, however, Fortress Europe has seemed far more interested in protecting itself from asylum seekers than in protecting the asylum seekers themselves. Internment camps for non-Europeans all over the continent demonstrate that border controls and the fight against illegal immigration are central to the EU’s asylum policies. And there is no exception for Iraqi refugees who are fleeing a country where, according to the regular reports of UNAMI as well as those of other UN agencies, an average of 100 people are killed and 200 wounded every day, half the population is living on less than one USD per day, and criminal activities go on constantly, including armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom, harassment, and killing people involved in the political process of Iraq or in reconstruction.
Iraqis seeking asylum in the EU find the process to be dangerous and expensive as member States close their borders to them and foreign embassies based in Iraq refuse to accept asylum claims. The UNHCR offices in Damascus and Amman are very often the only option available. There are nearly 1.4 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and more than 750,000 in Jordan, "but in the last few years", says an RSD officer at UNHCR in Cairo, "the number of Iraqis coming to Egypt from those countries has increased remarkably." In fact, the latest UNHCR reports estimate more than 150,000 Iraqis live in Cairo.
In order to enter Europe legally, an Iraqi must first obtain a passport from the present government in Iraq and a valid visa to their destination country. However, EU countries do not accept the common "S" series Iraqi passport due to the large number of forgeries. That means that an Iraqi must now obtain the new "G" series passport which is only available in one office in all of Iraq, located in Baghdad. So a number of Iraqis are choosing illegal ways to get into Europe. Greece is the border state of the EU closest to Iraq, so the majority of Iraqis try to enter Greece. But, according to the World Organization Against Torture’s report of August 2007, Greece is preventing Iraqis who enter illegally from making asylum claims. Since 2007, the Greek Ministry of Public Order began to deport many Iraqis to Turkey, where forcible returns to Iraq may occur.
The role of Greece has become more strategic since the EU’s Dublin II Regulation of 2003 which requires member States to return asylum seekers who make their claim in a country which is not their first point of entry to the first EU State where they could have claimed asylum. After Dublin II, is likely that a considerable number of Iraqis have been sent to Greece by other EU states.
Burden-sharing
Unlike the other EU countries, Sweden has been generous in responding to Iraqi refugees and has fast become a destination of choice, leading to a surge of applications to that country. This, combined with the lack of assistance from EU and the other States, in July 2007 finally brought the Swedish policy toward asylum-seekers in line with those of the other States.
Although the EU started the process of harmonizing national asylum policies more than seven years ago, huge differences still exist between the policies adopted by the member states. This disparity of treatment shows once again the divided nature of the EU, which has important consequences for Iraqis.
In the 11 July 2007 resolution, the European Parliament "urges the member states and the international community, as a demonstration of international responsibility-sharing, to contribute in a significant manner to the resettlement of Iraqi refugees and stateless persons". Sadly, so far, the response of the European states to the Iraqi exodus has been inappropriate and based on exclusion, and only seven EU member states are operating resettlement schemes: Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. Generally speaking, the EU states have demonstrated an unwillingness to follow UNHCR recommendations to grant protection to asylum-seekers coming from central and southern Iraq.
As the solution of the Iraqi crisis remains remote, the EU will continue to face the reality of more than 2 million Iraqi refugees at its doorstep. And hopefully, member states will consider their Parliament’s resolution as the first step for taking a part of the responsibility for the inhuman consequences of the war in Iraq.
