European Parliament Website
26 September 2013

P-010965-13

Question for written answer to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 117
Francisco Sosa Wagner (NI)

Subject:  VP/HR — Investigation into the massacre of Iranian refugees at Camp Ashraf in Iraq

On 1 September 2013, Iraqi forces carried out an attack on Camp Ashraf, which houses Iranian refugees. Fifty-two people were killed and seven others abducted. The attack was directed against a hundred members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) group, an organisation which opposes the regime in Tehran and is protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Although the attack was immediately condemned by the international community, neither the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy nor other Western officials have called for a thorough and independent UN investigation and for more protection for the survivors of the attack and other members of the group.
The European Union has merely asked the Iraqi authorities to clarify the circumstances surrounding the killings; and the UN has only asked the Government in Baghdad to carry out an impartial investigation without delay.

1. Does the Commission not think it should urge the UN to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the massacre at Camp Ashraf?

2. Does the Commission think it appropriate to call for UN peacekeepers to provide special protection for MEK refugees living in Camp Liberty in Iraq?