Dokument #1029305
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to the Persian Gulf researcher at
the U.S. Committee for Refugees in Washington, who visited refugee
camps in Iran in 1991, there has been no forced deportation and/or
repatriation and/or extradition of Iraqi refugees to Iraq since
1997 (3 May 1999). The vast majority of Iraqi refugees who fled to
Iran in 1991 were repatriated to Iraq in 1991.
In the spring of 1991 around 1 million
Iraqi refugees crossed into Iran where they were placed in refugee
camps along the border. By December of the same year, the majority
of them had returned to Iraq. In September 1996, around 60,000
refugees from northern Iraq fled to Iran. By December 1996 they had
all returned to Iraq. The Gulf researcher added that the 1996
repatriation of Kurds to northern Iraq had an "element of coercion
from the Iranian authorities." In 1998, there was a voluntary
repatriation programme conducted for Iraqi refugees in Iran wanting
to return to Iraq. The programme was cancelled after the Iraqi
authorities demanded that all the returnees pass through government
verification. Today most Iraqi refugees in Iran arrived during the
Iran-Iraq War as a result of deportation by Iraq because of their
alleged Iranian citizenship. Iran has been sympathetic to their
plight.
In 1991, all refugees left Iraq in the
spring and were actually returning to Iraq by October 1991. For an
Iraqi refugee to cross at that time into Iran and establish himself
in Shiraz and open a business means that the person likely spoke
Farsi and had good connections in Iran. Kurdish refugees who fled
Iraq to Iran in 1991 and 1996 were placed in camps with tents
surrounded by barbed wire and security forces. No one was allowed
to enter or exit without permission. The security was important and
there was very little freedom of movement. Kurd refugees in
northern Iran were not well-treated by the government, whereas Shia
who fled to southern Iran had much better conditions as they were
living in military barracks and could enter end exit freely.
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found within the time constraints of this
Response.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the
list of sources consulted in researching this Information
Request.
Reference
U.S. Committee for Refugees, Gulf
researcher, Washington. 3 May 1999. Telephone interview.
Additional Sources Consulted
Electronic sources: Internet,
LEXIS-NEXIS, WNC.
Two oral sources did not have
information on this subject.