Campaign against UNHCR's Violations of Refugees Rights in Turkey

The International Federation of Iranian Refugees and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees are beginning a joint international campaign against the inhuman situation and rightlessness of refugees and refugee claimants in Turkey on February 28, 2002. This protest campaign is primarily against the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) treatment and performance vis-à-vis thousands of refugees and claimants in Turkey.

Currently, thousands of refugees and refugee claimants primarily from Iran and Iraq are living in intolerable circumstances. The process of determining refugee status takes months and sometimes years. Those refused by the UNHCR are not even given reasons for their rejection and are thus deprived of the right to properly defend themselves. In all internationally recognised procedures, refugee and asylum claimants have the right to information on the reasons of rejection as a basic civil right. In the UNHCR procedure, refugee claimants have only one right to appeal, and are often not even interviewed a second instance before their case files are closed, leaving them at imminent risk of deportation back to persecution. Refugees are often humiliated by UNHCR legal officers, translators and guards. There have been reports of several instances where guards have beaten women and men attempting to gain assistance from that agency. Women refugee claimants are often not interviewed separately from their spouses and sex-based persecution cases are not addressed in a serious and comprehensive manner.

Iranian refugee claimants arriving from Iraqi Kurdistan (due to the insecurity, surveillance machinery of the Islamic regime, and the inactivity of the UNHCR there) are treated inhumanely and denied resettlement to a safe third country. Refugee claimants do not have access to any medical or financial assistance while their claims are being determined. In many instances, those recognised by the UNHCR are also denied any financial assistance. This is under conditions where refugee claimants are denied the right to work in Turkey, thereby imposing hunger, abject poverty, deprivation, homelessness and serious health problems for women, men and children. Those who enter without documents (as many asylum seekers and refugees do) are sent to languish in cities bordering the countries they have fled, leaving them in a state of insecurity, open to attacks by Islamic terrorist groups and states and the constant fear of deportation. The UNHCR not only imposes rightlessness but also strives to prevent the legitimate protests of refugees and asylum seekers by collaborating with the Turkish police. These policies are against international and civil rights norms.

Hundreds of claimants are currently on the verge of deportation. The Islamic Republic of Iran's execution of a deported Iranian asylum seeker, Karim Tujali, a few weeks ago has renewed the real fear of execution and persecution in all refugees and refugee claimants residing in Turkey.

This abysmal situation cannot continue. We are therefore launching an international campaign against these conditions and the violation of basic refugee rights.

We call on all asylum seekers and refugee claimants in Turkey and elsewhere to join our campaign, close ranks and protest against the UNHCR. We are launching a positive campaign based on unity and will be relying on our collective action and the support of progressive people and organisations including trade unions and rights organisations. We wish to point out that our tradition of fighting for our rights runs against any self-inflicting mental and physical injuries. There will be several demonstrations at UNHCR offices in various countries worldwide on 28 February to launch our campaign.

The demands of this campaign are:

1. Recognition of the right to asylum for all those fleeing Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, especially women and children;
2. Recognition of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan as unsafe countries;
3. The immediate re-opening and review of all closed case files;
4. Improvements in the determination procedures, including the disclosure of the reasons for rejection, increasing the number of appeals and interviews and expediting reviews;
5. The provision of basic living and health needs for refugees and refugee claimants and their residence in cities away from the border areas and outside the reach of terrorist agents;
6. The UNHCR's resolute intervention against deportations. The UNHCR is responsible for the threats to the lives and safety of deportees;
7. The immediate resettlement of those recognised as refugees to a safe third country, including those Iranians who have fled Iraqi Kurdistan for fear of their lives and the inactivity of the UNHCR offices in Northern Iraq;
8. Recognition of the rights of refugees and claimants to protest.

The International Federation of Iranian and Iraqi Refugees call upon all refugees and asylum seekers, progressive political parties, trades unions and civil rights organisations to lend their support to this campaign.

Letters of protest can be sent to:

UNHCR Ankara

Sancak Mah.  

12. Cadde 212 Sokak   No.3

06550 Cankaya    

Ankara, Turkey

Tel: +90 312-4411696

Fax: +90 312-4412173  

E-mail: Turan@Unhcr.Ch

Copies of letters can be sent to:

UNHCR Geneva

UNHCR, HQPRO 2, Case Postale 2500

CH-1211 Geneva 2 Depot, Switzerland

Fax: 011-41-22-739-7353

Tel: 011-41-22-739-8643

E-mail: Hqpr00@Unhcr.Ch

International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR)

P. O. Box 27236, London N11 27F

Tel: +44 (0) 7730 107 337

ifir@ukonline.co.uk

http://www.hambastegi.org

Central Secretariat – International Federation of Iranian Refugees

Central Secretariat – International Federation of Iraqi Refugees

February 28, 2002