For immediate release
Strasbourg- 6 February 2013

On the Anniversary of Relocation to Liberty and in the Aftermath of UNHCR’s Interview with 2,000 Residents:

ISJ and the Necessity of Returning Residents to Ashraf

Liberty’s inhumane conditions and lack of progress in relocation to third countries further necessitate the return of residents to Ashraf until their relocation

While the anniversary of the onset of Ashraf residents’ relocation to Liberty is forthcoming, the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) stresses the necessity of returning the residents—especially the 2,000 who have been interviewed by UNHCR—to Ashraf. This is a human necessity, a legal necessity, and an ethical necessity that the European Union, the U.S. government, and the United Nations must try to immediately make happen.
1. The government of Iraq at the order of the Iranian regime and with complicity of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative displaced Ashraf residents from their homes and moved them to Liberty prison. It blocked the transfer of their property to Liberty, does not allow the sale of their belongings in Ashraf, and has practically expropriated their properties. Forced evacuation is illegal except in cases of specific military or security concerns, in which case it is done by payment of specific compensations and providing a level of life equal or higher than prior conditions. In the case of Ashraf, neither did such a need exist nor have such conditions been met.
2. UNAMI’s announced objective for relocating residents to Liberty was for UNHCR to interview them and transfer them out of Iraq. This is clearly stated in the Memorandum of Understanding between Special Representative Kobler and the Government of Iraq. In February 2012, the High Commissioner told Mr. Stevenson that he supported the revolving door idea, i.e., for a group of 400 residents to be transferred to Liberty and subsequently relocated abroad prior to the transfer of next group from Ashraf to Liberty. But to date, 3,100 residents have gone to Liberty, yet only 5 people have been transferred abroad.
3. In respect to its infrastructure and living conditions, Liberty cannot accommodate 3,000 people and even Special Representative Kobler emphasized from the beginning that considering that a significant number of residents would be transferred out of Iraq, Liberty would never have 3,000 residents. But relocation abroad is not within sight, the Iraqi government does not allow Liberty’s infrastructure to be completed and fixed, it does not allow expansion of the camp’s area, and is not willing to allow Camp Liberty to be designated a refugee camp. Therefore continued presence in Liberty has no justification [or is a moot issue] and the residents must be immediately returned to Ashraf.
4. Designation of Temporary Transit Location (TTL) for Liberty was concocted by the Government of Iraq and Martin Kobler; under UNHCR standards, such a designation refers to a location for staying a few days or weeks or, at maximum, a few months. After a full year, the TTL designation indicates an utterly failed project.
5. Since the expeditious transfer of residents is not within sight, and since 2,000 individuals in Liberty have been interviewed by UNHCR, there are no excuses whatsoever for these residents not to return to Ashraf. The rest can be interviewed in Ashraf or can gradually return to Ashraf as they are interviewed in Liberty.
6. According to the January 19, 2012 report by UNHCR’s shelter expert, Liberty does not meet any of the humanitarian and refugee standards. Through fraud and abuse of his power, Special Representative Kobler issued a statement on January 31st and deceptively wrote that Liberty meets these standards. This deception deserves to be investigated and tried in a court, and any action based on that deception, in this case relocation to Liberty, is illegal.
7. At an international conference on February 2nd in Paris, Taher Boumedra –a high ranking former UN official who oversaw Ashraf on behalf of the UN for three and a half years but resigned in May 2012 in protest against Martin Kobler’s biased policies—said that returning the residents to Ashraf is a legal act since “this MOU, based on which the relocation to Liberty was carried out, was null and void from the very beginning and has no legal value whatsoever. This document that is signed between the Government of Iraq and the United Nations is in serious violation of the Vienna Convention in regards to laws of contracts. Article 51 and 52 of the Vienna Convention make this document null and void because it is produced by coercion, and the threat of use of force. Any document signed under the threat of use of force and coercion has no legal value. Additionally, the MOU signed by the Iraqi government and the United Nations explicitly states that: “Seventh: Determination of refugee status by UNHCR in accordance with its mandate does not necessarily entail conferral of refugee status by the Government of the Republic of Iraq.”
A document signed by the UN cannot allow any party, especially a UN member state, not to recognize the refugee rights.
Considering the above points, from a legal perspective, both the MOU and the relocation of residents to Ashraf, which was carried out on the basis of the MOU, were illegal.
In light of this, ISJ stresses the immediate return of Liberty residents to their homes of 26 years in Ashraf. The process for relocation to third countries can be carried out there.
Reminding that Ashraf residents are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and that the Government of the United States has signed an agreement with each and every one of them to protect them in return for their weapons until the final disposition of their cases, ISJ holds that the U.S. cannot put the burden of responsibility on the shoulder of the United Nations, whose representative is in service of the new Iraq’s dictatorship, and thus refrain from its responsibilities toward Ashraf residents, and that it must actively intervene for the return of residents to Ashraf, otherwise it will be also responsible for whatever happens from now on.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Vice-President of the European Parliament
President, International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ)

ISJ enjoys the support of over 4000 parliamentarians on both sides of the Atlantic.
International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) President of ISJ : Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of the European Parliament European Parliament, ASP 11E205, 60 rue Wiertz, B-1047, Brussels, Belgium;