United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representative in Iraq Jean-Nicolas Beuze talking to Rudaw on June 20, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Asylum and the title of “refugee” is only for civilians fleeing violence and not for those who are involved in armed violence or carrying arms, the United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representative in Iraq said on Tuesday, referring to members of Kurdish armed groups in camps in the Kurdistan Region.
“Asylum is not for people who are carrying arms, asylum is not for people who are involved in armed violence,” Jean-Nicolas Beuze told Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara on Tuesday, marking the world refugee day. He added that it is the responsibility of the authorities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to ensure that those seeking asylum are civilians.
Makhmour Camp hosts over 12,000 Kurdish refugees from southeast Turkey (Bakur). The majority of the residents come from villages depopulated during Turkey’s conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The camp has been hit by Turkish air and drone strikers targeting PKK members, also causing civilian casualties. Ankara believes the PKK uses Makhmour Camp as a training ground with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2021 calling it an “incubation centre for terrorism.”
Beuze said that the UNHCR has expressed its concerns of the situation in the camp to Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, adding that they do not have “enough guarantees that those in the camp are civilians.”
However, Beuze applauded the Kurdistan Region for hosting refugees from outside its borders as well as those displaced from Iraq during the war with the Islamic State (ISIS).
The Syrian conflict has displaced over 240,000 Syrians of Kurdish origin to the Kurdistan Region, mainly from northeast Syria (Rojava). They make up the majority of the 300,000 refugees that have sought asylum and safety in the Region, with the rest being Kurds from Iran and Turkey.
Out of these, around 30-40 percent is no longer in refugee camps, according to the representative. “Camps are never a good solution to host refugees, they are very expensive to maintain, they cut the ties between the refugee populations to the local population."
Currently, 1.2 million people are still displaced across Iraq as a consequence of the war against ISIS and despite the group being territorially defeated, numerous challenges and security concerns remain, preventing them from returning to their homes. Beuze pointed to the Yazidi population in particular of being unable to return to their homeland of Shingal (Sinjar) due to an ongoing dire security situation.
There is a myriad of armed forces in Shingal with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They gained footholds in Shingal after ousting ISIS.
Due to these issues, Beuze stated that the Yazidis in camps in Duhok are “hesitant and reluctant” to return to Shingal. However, there is a need to “improve drastically the living conditions in the camps in Duhok because they are not adequate for families with children.”
With regards to the Syrian refugees and recent talk of their return following efforts by countries in the region to normalize ties with President Bashar al-Assad, Beuze warned that this was not yet safe. “Returning to what?” he questioned, adding that security concerns are still alarming.
Given that most Syrian refugees are Kurds from Rojava where armed violence remains high and is “not a place where any mother, any father would want to bring their children to have a life.”
Around 11,500 people have migrated out of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since the start of the year, the Summit Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs (Lutka) revealed on Tuesday, adding that at least five people have lost their lives along the perilous journey in the first six months of 2023, with the whereabouts of seven others also unknown.
Over 750,000 people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have migrated out of the country since 2015. Lutka recorded at least 319 migrant deaths during that period, also adding that the whereabouts of 236 others remain unknown.
Iraq ranks 12th among the countries with the highest number of migrants. According to Lutka, more than 71,000 people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region applied for asylum out of the country in 2022, also reporting at least 17 deaths during that year and seven missing cases.
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