Commission seeks to help Sweden with Iraqi refugees

The European Commission is expected to appeal to EU member states at April’s meeting of interior ministers to help thousands of Iraqi refugees fleeing violence.

The Commission is likely to ask member states to provide experts and resources to help Sweden deal with the thousands of applications it is receiving from Iraqi refugees and to send aid to Iraq’s neighbouring states, which are dealing with the majority of people fleeing the turmoil.

But while Sweden would like to see other EU countries take in refugees from Iraq’s neighbouring states, the Commission is not expected to go this far on what is a sensitive issue. Few EU states have such resettlement programmes. Most would oppose taking in large numbers of Iraqi refugees, observers say.

The US recently announced it would take in 7,000 refugees from Iraq’s neighbouring states.

Syria estimates it has received around 1 million refugees from Iraq since the war broke out in 2003, with Jordan taking in 750,000. Other states in the region are also shouldering the burden with Egypt taking in 80,000 refugees, Iran 50,000, Lebanon 40,000 and Turkey 5,000.

Refugee groups criticise EU states for not sharing the humanitarian problem. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) puts the overall approval rate for Iraqi refugees at just 10%.

Sweden approved more than 80% of the 9,065 Iraqi asylum requests made last year but the UK rejected 1,675 out of 1,835 requests from Iraq in 2005.

According to data provided by the UNHCR, last year the UK accepted 10.8% of Iraqi asylum applications, Germany accepted 10.6% and Belgium 13%.

The Netherlands gave 19% of applicants resi-dency on humanitarian grounds but only 1% were granted refugee status.

Many see it as ironic that the EU states will be asked to take in refugees from Syria or Jordan while at the same time rejecting applications by people who make their way to Europe themselves.

"It would seem ironic to be resettling Iraqis from other countries when in Europe there are so many Iraqis who are not getting protection," said Judith Kumin, the UNHCR’s regional representative for the EU.

Some EU states such as Belgium allow asylum-seekers whose applications have initially been rejected to stay in reception centres but others, such as the Netherlands, do not, and failed applicants can end up homeless, Kumin added.

"A large number of Iraqis are not getting protection and it is very distressing," she said.

Apart from low figures in granting asylum-seeker status, other member states are singled out for their response to the Iraq problem. Greece, which receives the fourth highest number of Iraqi refugees in the EU, has been criticised for maintaining a freeze on taking decisions on asylum applications because of the ongoing war. Germany has revoked the refugee status of 18,000 Iraqis granted protection during Saddam Hussein’s reign, despite the fact that an invasion and subsequent war followed at the end of his rule.

"When European states go as far as sending soldiers to fight for security, democracy and human rights in Iraq, it would be a paradox if the same states then denied protection to the people of Iraq who flee the country because they feel insecure and threatened," said Bjarte Vandvik, secretary-general of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, a non-governmental organisation.

The UNHCR has appealed to EU states not to send refugees back to central and southern Iraq because of the violence and this appeal has largely been complied with, according to Kumin. The UK last week however deported 38 Iraqis to northern Iraq.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres is expected to announce a ministerial meeting in Geneva to discuss the humanitarian situation in Iraq’s neighbouring states but the issue of asylum-seekers in Europe is also likely to be raised.

The EU’s focus on the Iraq situation follows a meeting of justice and interior ministers last week (15 February) at which Sweden’s Migration and Asylum Policy Minister Tobias Billström raised the issue. "There must be solidarity between EU states so that more of us share the responsibility for offering protection to refugees…it is important to be prepared in case the situation in Iraq deteriorates further," he said.

Swedish officials did not see a need for other European states to take refugees from Sweden but said help with processing the applications and translating might be useful. But more importantly Sweden wanted to see other EU states taking in refugees from Iraq’s neighbouring states and providing aid to support those who remained. "The aim of Sweden is to bring aid to those who need it," Billström said.

Both the Commission and the German presidency said they would come up with proposals on how the EU could respond. "We will deal with this very sensitive issue specifically with proposals in writing well before the next meeting [of justice and home affairs ministers]," said Franco Frattini, the commissioner for justice, freedom and security.

Asylum applications lodged by Iraqis in selected countries in Europe, North America & Oceania

(provisional data for 2006, only countries which received over 100 applications are listed separately)

Sweden: 9,065

Netherlands: 2,766

Germany: 2,065

Greece: 1,438*

UK: 1,045**

Norway: 873

Switzerland: 797*

Belgium: 695

US: 569 *

Denmark: 459*

Austria: 384

Finland: 218*

Slovakia: 206

Ireland: 199*

Canada: 190

Australia: 150 *

Cyprus: 132

France: 114*

Sub Total 21,365

(All other countries with under 100 applications = 423)

Total 21,797

*Estimate based on data for Jan - Nov 2006

**Estimate based on data for Jan - Oct 2006

Source: based on government data provided to UNHCR

Estimated number of Iraqis in countries neighbouring Iraq

Syria: 1,000,000 (Syrian government estimate)

Jordan: 750,000 (Jordanian government estimate)

Lebanon: Up to 40,000 (UNHCR estimate)

Egypt: Up to 80,000 (UNHCR estimate)

Turkey: 5,000

Source: UNHCR Brussels

The European Commission is expected to appeal to EU member states at April’s meeting of interior ministers to help thousands of Iraqi refugees fleeing violence.