Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IRN17535 Country: Iran Date: 29 September 2005 Keywords: Iran – Iraqi Kurds – Citizenship This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Question 1. Please provide information on the situation of Iraqi Kurds in Iran. RESPONSE 1. Please provide information on the situation of Iraqi Kurds in Iran. Sources cited below suggest there are between 80,000 and 100,000 Iraqi refugees and migrants currently living in Iran. They comprise of Shiite Arabs, Faili Kurds and Sunni Kurds. The majority of Iraqi refugees live in towns and villages rather than camps with Kurdish refugees scattered between the northwestern provinces of Kermanshah Kordestan and West Azerbaijan. Limited information on the situation of Iraqi Kurds in Iran was found amongst the sources consulted. Most information referred in general terms to “Iraqis”, “Iraqi refugees”, “Iraqi exiles” or “Iraqi migrants”. Registered Iraqis in Iran have access to health and education although there are legal barriers to employment. Undocumented Iraqis are in danger of deportation. Iran is currently investigating ways and means of repatriating Iraqis. A significant number of Iraqi refugees and migrants currently live in Iraq. News reports vary as to the exact number. • “Regarding Iraqi refugees, as of January 2005, the estimated number of registered Iraqi refugees was about 80,000” (‘UNHCR supports Iran in its refugee hosting bid’ 2005, Islamic Republic News Agency, 20 June – Attachment 1); • “Iran – Refugees and Asylum Seekers…Iraq: 93,200” (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants 2005, World Refugee Survey 2005 – Iran, 16 June – Attachment 2); • “An estimated 95,000 Iraqi refugees remain in Iran” (‘UN Refugee Agency Closes Camps in Iran as Iraqi Exiles Return Home’ 2004, UN News Service, 14 December – Attachment 3); and • “According to the report [released by the Iranian Interior Ministry’s Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA)], the latest figure of Iraqi migrants residing in Iran was put at 100,000” (‘Iran, Iraq examine repatriation of Iraqi migrants’ 2005, Islamic Republic News Agency, 16 July http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu- 234/0507161178194217.htm – Accessed 28 September 2005 – Attachment 4). An article dated 17 July 2005 by the Islamic Republic News Agency reports that the Iraqi Migration and Displacement Minister and the Director General of BAFIA met to discuss the “issue of Iraqi migrants in Iran and ways of their repatriation”: A report released by the Interior Ministry’s BAFIA said that during the meeting, the difficulties facing Iraqi migrants residing in Iran such as the procedure of their arrival in and departure from the country, issuing of certificates of birth, marriage and residence for them were discussed and the necessary agreements were reached to the effect (‘Iran, Iraq examine repatriation of Iraqi migrants’ 2005, Islamic Republic News Agency, 16 July http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0507161178194217.htm – Accessed 28 September 2005 – Attachment 4). An article dated 20 June 2005 by the Islamic Republic News Agency reports that Iran has a “very generous asylum policy”: As for the current situation of refugees in Iran, Bronee [UNHCR Representative to Tehran] said most of the refugees in Iran are settled in urban areas and the rest in few camps. Sixty percent of the refugee community has been in Iran since 15 years and many of the children are born in Iran, said Bronee, adding therefore, they feel very much part of the Iranian culture and looking for allowance to settle amongst Iranian communities. Camps are mainly run by the Government’s support and some self-management projects are being introduced to enable the refugees to be self-sufficient. …There has been very little direct assistance from UNHCR to the Afghan and Iraqi refugees who have settled locally in Iranian towns and among Iranian communities. Thanks to a very generous asylum policy, read the handout, it has been possible for these refugees to find areas of employment which have enabled them to earn a basic income to support their families. The press release said in 2005, UNHCR will continue working with the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan with a regional perspective to facilitate voluntary repatriation within the legal frameworks provided by Tripartite agreements (‘UNHCR supports Iran in its refugee hosting bid’ 2005, Islamic Republic News Agency, 20 June – Attachment 1). The World Refugee Survey 2005 by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants provides the following information on Iraqi refugees in Iran: Iran honored UNHCR’s advisory for Iraqi refugees, which specified that conditions in Iraq were not conducive to mass returns. …Iran passed regulations in February that increased fines for employers of Afghans without work permits and imposed new restrictions making it difficult for Afghans to obtain mortgages, rent or own property, and open bank accounts. Iranian econo- mists warned that the repatriation of Afghans could cost the country a vital part of its workforce. Iran did not impose the same restrictions on Iraqi refugees. The 1963 Regulations allowed recognized refugees “employment in the fields authorized for foreign nationals and those fields deemed appropriate.” The Labor Law authorized the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to issue, extend, and renew work permits to refugees, subject to the written agreements of the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs. Most refugees worked in the informal sector. Refugees did not enjoy the legal labor protections of nationals, but DSCs [Dispute Settlement Committees] sometimes mediated non-payment of salaries. The 1963 Regulations provided refugees the right to the “acquisition of movable and immovable properties” generally on par with foreigners (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants 2005, World Refugee Survey 2005 – Iran, 16 June – Attachment 2). An article dated 14 December 2004 by The UN News Service reports that the UNHCR is closing several camps in Iran as Iraqi refugees return home: Some 107,000 refugees have returned to Iraq from Iran since the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule last year, many after more than two decades in exile. …Amongst refugees staying in camps, the rate of departure has been extremely high, with over 80 per cent choosing to repatriate. This has led to a sharp fall in the number in Iranian camps to 8,000 from 50,000. Six out of the 22 camps in Iran are now empty and another two are expected to be closed by the end of the year. Many of the remaining 14 camps are already nearly empty (‘UN Refugee Agency Closes Camps in Iran as Iraqi Exiles Return Home’ 2004, UN News Service, 14 December – Attachment 3). An article by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting dated 1 September 2004 reports that Iraqi refugees living in Iran “face legal barriers to working and living a normal life”: In addition to the Badr Brigade, some have found work as street vendors. Others teach Arabic or run small businesses registered in the names of Iranian partners. …Some of the worst-off Iraqis are refugees deported under a campaign the Iraqi government conducted that deprived away Iraqi Shia of Iranian ancestry of their citizenship and property. Unlike more recent arrivals such as prisoners-of-war or refugees, these people do not have the option of joining the Badr Brigade – which at least offers accommodation, a small salary, and services such as healthcare. … Iranian officials say it is hard enough for their own citizens to find jobs, let alone the hundreds of thousands of refugees in their midst (Ali, Hussein 2004, ‘Left Behind in Iran’, IWPR’S Iraqi Crisis Report No. 81, 1 September – Attachment 5). According to the UNHCR Islamic Republic of Iran 2005 Country Operations Plan, Iran has a “very generous asylum policy”: In spite of the size of the refugee population in Iran, the Government and people of Iran has maintained a very generous asylum policy throughout the past 25 years. Afghans and Iraqis have had access to education and health facilities and have also been able to benefit from a subsidised economy and opportunities to find employment, which although not permitted, has been tolerated (UNHCR 2004, ‘Executive Committee Summary’, Islamic Republic of Iran 2005 Country Operations Plan, March – Attachment 6). An article dated 27 May 2003 by Agence France Presse reports that “Iran has decided to strip hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans in the country of their refugee status”: Ahmad Hosseini, the interior ministry’s director of refugee affairs, told reporters that Afghans and Iraqis who sought refuge in the Islamic republic would now be classed as migrants in the wake of the conflicts in their home countries. “Therefore the Iranian government has the right to expel them,” he warned. (‘Iraqis, Afghans in Iran stripped of refugee status’ 2003, Agence France-Presse, 27 May, ReliefWeb website http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/OCHA-64DCEC?OpenDocument&cc=irn – Accessed 29 September 2005 – Attachment 7). A Human Rights Watch briefing paper dated February 2003 provides the following information on Iraqi refugees in Iran. The report notes that Iran has “traditionally been the most tolerant of their presence”: Iran Unlike most of the other countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Iran is party to the Refugee Convention. A government-run census in 2001 revealed that Iran hosted more refugees than any other government in the world: 2.56 million, of whom 2,355,000 were Afghans and 203,000 were Iraqis.