Iraqi Prime Minister Accused of Forced Return of Refugees to Dangerous Areas
Iraqi security forces have been accused of forcibly returning refugees to unsafe areas. The returns in the Sunni-dominated Anbar area expose refugees to deadly risk, said aid workers.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is alleged to be rushing returns in order to hold an election while his popularity is still high after defeating the so-called Islamic State in Iraq. Delays in returning Iraqis to their home areas, where they have to be in order to vote, could hold up elections.
Reuters interviewed dozens of aid workers in Anbar Province and found that between 2,400 and 5,000 people had been forcibly returned from refugee camps.
“These returns are not safe,” said one aid worker. “Even those who don’t openly resist really have no other choice. They cannot really say no to a bunch of people with guns.”
The military said that claims of the forced return of displaced civilians were exaggerated but that civilians must go home in the wake of the ISIS defeat.
“Our primary concern is the safety of our citizens, our job is to protect people,” Iraqi Joint Operations Command Spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told Reuters.
At one camp Saleh Ahmed, 37, and his family were told to go home and “live in a tent” in their home town. After he returned to pitch a tent outside his destroyed home an explosive went off. Saleh’s wife was killed, his daughter badly burned and he lost one eye while the other was badly injured.
Confusion Over U.S. Cuts in Support to Palestinian Refugees
There is confusion over U.S. funding for a U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees. The U.S. State Department has denied reports that it has frozen $125 million in funds for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
U.S. president Donald Trump last week threatened cuts for UNRWA over what he called Palestinians’ refusal to talk peace with Israel.
Possible cuts by the largest donor to an agency that supports much of the population in Gaza could inflate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. The potential move has been denounced as blackmail by the Palestinian authority.
The State Department said on January 5 that it had not frozen one-third of its payment to the U.N. agency, saying it was under an ongoing review.
Israel appeared to acknowledge that some kind of cut was imminent.
“Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) supports a gradual cut to UNRWA,” a senior Israeli official, told Reuters.
Netanyahu’s office later said he “supports President Trump’s critical approach and believes that practical steps should be taken to change the situation in which UNRWA is perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem rather than resolving it.”
A spokesperson for UNRWA said last week that the agency had had no formal notification of cuts in U.S. support.
Scotland Could Allow Refugees to Vote in Local Elections
Scotland is considering allowing refugees to vote in local elections. The proposal is part of a public consultation that floats the idea of extending the franchise to non-citizens.
The idea would see all those who have legal residence in Scotland, including refugees, given the vote in local and Scottish Parliament elections.
The devolved parliament has authority over local and regional polls. The proposal would not affect British parliamentary elections, which come under the remit of London. It could create an important precedent for political rights for refugees.
The Scottish minister for parliamentary business, Joe FitzPatrick, said: “As citizens from a very wide range of countries come to live and work in Scotland, it can be considered discriminatory to deny the right to vote to resident immigrants who are neither E.U. nor Commonwealth citizens.”
Graham O’Neill from the Scottish Refugee Council said: “There is no reason why refugees who are rebuilding their lives here should have fewer rights than the rest of us.”
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