Iraqi repatriation awaiting safety guarantees

Marie-Helene Verney, the media relations officer for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Iranian capital, Tehran, has told IRIN that according to a tentative agreement between the UNHCR and the Coalition Provincial Administration (CPA) in Iraq, the repatriation of a limited number of refugees would take place as soon as safety and reintegration guarantees could be given by the CPA. "The safety of returnees, not only during their travel but after arrival in Iraq, is our primary concern," she said. Her comments follow a visit last week by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers to the Ashrafi Esfahani refugee camp near Dezful in Khuzistan Province in southwestern Iran. "The United States and Britain have many doubts regarding repatriation of Iraqi refugees, and the UNHCR is trying to ensure their peaceful return," Lubbers said. Verney added that some preparations were being made and a list of 100 Iraqi refugees willing to return had already been drawn up. These would make up the first pilot convoy of what could become a large-scale repatriation extending over many months. Lubbers called on UNHCR teams in Iraq to work with local authorities to pave the way for the successful reintegration of the returnees. He also said the UN was ready to provide services, including transport, food, medicine and even financial support, for refugees returning from Iran to Iraq. According to UNHCR, Iran is home to over 200,000 Iraqi refugees, who constitute half of all Iraqi refugees in the world. Most are Shiites who fled Iraq to escape Saddam Husayn's crackdown on the rebellions in southern Iraq in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War. Of the Iraqi refugees in Iran, 48,000 live in camps, while the rest are in large urban centres, generally in the west of the country. Tehran, with its higher standards of living and greater job opportunities, had attracted the largest number of Iraqis, UNHCR said. For the past few weeks, these refugees have been in a state of high expectation. The fall of Saddam's regime has brought hope to many that at last they could go home. According to UNHCR, in the camps of Khuzistan, refugees are talking of nothing but the news from Iraq. In Beheshti camp, where building work is under way to improve its infrastructure, the refugees say the construction work is unnecessary; what they want is to go home right now. According to a World Food Programme report last year, since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has played host to about 2.65 million refugees, including 2.35 million Afghans, 200,000 Iraqis and 5,000 nationals of other countries. The Iranian government estimates that 1.8 million Afghans are still living in the country. The presence of so many refugees has brought enormous pressure to bear on Iran's social services, according to a recent United Nations Development Programme report on sustainable human development in Iran. Western provinces of Iran have been affected for more than two decades by crises related to Iraq. The large-scale influx of refugees into Iran, followed by a massive wave of internally displaced people in 1991 as a result of the Gulf crisis, led to a spontaneous migration of the local rural population residing near the Iraqi border to other locations and towards larger urban areas, both in the border provinces and closer to central Iran. Both events have had a deep and lasting impact on the development of Iran's western provinces, according to observers. Established in 1991, the Ashrafi Esfahani camp holds 11,000 Iraqi refugees, and is considered to be the biggest camp for Iraqi refugees in the province. In Ashrafi and some of the other big camps tension is growing. Heads of families in the camps told a visiting UNHCR team that they wanted to go back immediately, and did not understand what was delaying their return. Preparations are well under way by the UN refugee agency to facilitate the return of many Iraqis wanting to go home. Money, staff and equipment that had been set aside in anticipation of a refugee exodus from Iraq during the recent war are now being redirected towards repatriation. The UNHCR office in Iran is working in close cooperation with the Iranian authorities and the UNHCR teams in Iraq to ensure that everything is ready when implementation of the repatriation programme begins. ENDS.