UN wants EU to accept more Iraqi refugees

The United Nations’ refugees agency, UNHCR, will put pressure on EU states at a conference this month (17-18 April) to take in Iraqi refugees living in camps in Syria and Jordan.

The conference will take place in Geneva just days before a meeting of EU justice and interior ministers (19-20 April) when Sweden is expected to raise the issue again.

But ministers are unlikely to commit themselves to taking in such refugees. Only six EU states - the UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands - have programmes to take in people who have been determined refugees outside the country but need to be resettled because of problems over where they are. Some 2 million Iraqis have fled the violence in their country mainly to Syria (1 million) and Jordan (750,000) but also Egypt (80,000) and Lebanon (40,000).

The Geneva conference will be attended by ministers from EU member states, Iraq’s neighbouring countries, states which are major donors and major refugee-hosting states. "UNHCR sees resettlement as an important sign of solidarity with the countries in the region surrounding Iraq. UNHCR hopes that the EU states can demonstrate that solidarity by making resettlement places available as well as by taking a more considered and expansive approach to the protection of Iraqi asylum seekers in their territory," said Madeline Garlick, a senior European affairs officer at UNHCR’s Brussels office.

UNHCR has approached all resettlement countries, but specifically the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, about the possibility of taking in resettled refugees. Denmark has not decided whether its quotas of over 130 resettled refugees will include Iraqis while a spokesman for the UK Home Office said: "We will continue to consider all asylum and human rights claims on their individual merits."

Franco Frattini, the commissioner for justice, freedom and security, said at the last meeting of justice and interior ministers that he would draw up proposals on how to deal with the situation. But the Commission is only likely to intervene to assess how member states are processing Iraqi asylum claims, given the broad discrepancy between rates of granting asylum to Iraqis, and to increase funding to help the humanitarian situation in the refugee camps. "We have called upon member states positively to consider the notion of resettlement of refugees…but it is essentially a national issue and we don’t expect a big inflow," said a Commission spokesman.

"It’s still a national competence so they [the Commission] won’t want to push it too much," said one diplomat.

Sweden raised the issue at the last Justice and Home Affairs Council because of its concern at the refugee situation in Iraq’s neighbouring countries but also to highlight the high numbers of Iraqis arriving in Sweden to claim asylum. More than 9,000 Iraqis claimed asylum in Sweden last year with over 80% being granted refugee status. Other member states fell well short of this, with the Netherlands receiving over 2,700 claims but approving only 1% for refugee status, Germany receiving over 2,000 claims and approving 10.6% and the UK receiving over 1,000 claims and approving 10.8%.

The United Nations’ refugees agency, UNHCR, will put pressure on EU states at a conference this month (17-18 April) to take in Iraqi refugees living in camps in Syria and Jordan.