EU states return Iraqi asylum-seekers

Four EU states have sent failed asylum-seekers back to Iraq while nine member states have deported Iraqis to neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

The UK, France, the Netherlands and Slovakia have sent Iraqis back, mainly to northern Iraq, with some of the deportations taking place as recently as February.

The information has been compiled by a group of experts from member states in response to problems raised by Sweden at the Council of Ministers over record numbers of asylum-seekers arriving from Iraq. The responses confirm that member states treat applicants from Iraq in different ways, often contrary to EU laws designed to harmonise asylum policy.

Some states, such as Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Cyprus, Spain and Italy, have granted protection to all asylum-seekers from central and southern Iraq. But Hungary and Finland report that they still assess cases on an individual basis.

Member states cite different criteria for granting protection. For example, subsidiary protection is granted by Sweden to members of ethnic or religious minorities, Palestinians in Iraq or those involved in the reconstruction of Iraq. The UK, the Netherlands, France, the Czech Republic and Finland gives this status to those at risk of kidnapping for economic reasons, at risk of honour killings or involved in tribal disputes.

Denmark, Slovakia, France and the Czech Republic require the existence of an individual threat while Sweden, Belgium, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania do not.

Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia and Romania said that they returned small numbers of Iraqis to countries in the region such as Syria, Jordan and Turkey, despite these countries already hosting over 2 million refugees.

The European Commission has said that such different approaches to Iraqi applicants led to asylum-seekers prefering to make applications in certain EU states. Sweden had over 9,000 such applicants last year and awarded refugee status to 80%. This year some 20,000 Iraqis are expected to seek asylum in Sweden while the overall EU figure could reach 40,000.

But no proposals are expected to be put forward to solve the problem of divergent approaches at the next meeting of justice ministers in June. "We would be a bit disap-pointed if ministers don’t put forward concrete proposals at this stage," said Madeline Garlick, senior European affairs officer at the Brussels office of UNHCR, the UN’s refugees’ agency. "If initial predictions are correct then there will be serious numbers of applicants coming into the EU this year and governments would have to look in terms of a concerted response," she added.

Kris Pollet, executive officer for justice and home affairs at Amnesty International, said: "The common asylum system is not there. Member states do as they want."

Non-governmental organisations are also concerned at the lack of response from EU states to the call to take some of the vulnerable refugees in Syria and Jordan, such as the sick, single women with children and Palestinians. So far only the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden have agreed to take a few hundred refugees but UNHCR is looking for Europe to accept 13,000. "We hope states can create additional places," said Garlick.

Four EU states have sent failed asylum-seekers back to Iraq while nine member states have deported Iraqis to neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Syria and Turkey.