30 March 2006

Guidelines on Iraqi Asylum Seekers/Refugees

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has updated its Guidelines on the Treatment of Iraqi Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe. The last guidelines were issued in April 2004. The focus is on the return of Iraqi asylum seekers. Specifically, ECRE "urges European states not to return Iraqis to Iraq or other countries in the region unless a person expresses a strong desire to return voluntarily and has access to accurate information on conditions in their home area."

UNHCR also prepared a set of Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers in October 2005.

There are numerous country profiles, background reports, and news sources with information on the situation in Iraq that one can consult. Many can be located by following the links from UNHCR's country menu or FMO's resource summary. Another reference that can be used to assess "conditions in the home area" is the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, a "statistical compilation of economic, public opinion, and security data...[that provides] updated information on various criteria, including crime, telephone and water service, troop fatalities, unemployment, Iraqi security forces, oil production, and coalition troop strength."

Posted in Publications.

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