APPEAL TO INTERIOR MINISTERS: HÁWAR.help AND PRO ASYL DEMAND DEPORTATION STOPS TO IRAN AND IRAQ

In light of the ongoing political and human rights crises in Iran and Iraq, PRO ASYL and HÁWAR.help are calling on the Interior Ministers’ Conference (scheduled for 19–21 June 2024 in Potsdam) to immediately halt deportations of refugees from Iran and of Yazidis from Iraq.

Protect the Vulnerable: No Deportations to the Torture State of Iran, No Deportations of Genocide Survivors to Iraq

We urge federal and state interior ministers to enact deportation bans for Iran and for all Yazidi individuals from Iraq during the upcoming conference in June.

The majority of refugees continue to have compelling and life-threatening reasons for leaving their countries of origin and cannot safely return. This is especially true for individuals fleeing Iran’s brutal regime and for Yazidis who survived the genocide in Iraq. The German government has expressed solidarity with Iranian protesters, and the Bundestag has recognized the genocide against Yazidis in Iraq. Despite this, these groups currently lack protection from deportation.

Iran: A State of Repression

The human rights situation in Iran is disastrous. Nevertheless, some federal states have begun deporting people to this authoritarian state. This is possible because the nationwide deportation stop was not extended at the last Conference of Interior Ministers in December 2023. However, the decision of whether people can be deported to a country where they face torture and the death penalty should not be left to individual federal states.

Arbitrary arrests, brutal torture in prisons, and executions: these are the regime’s responses to the protests that began after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. Death sentences are imposed on unknown individuals whom the regime perceives as threats, as well as on prominent figures like the well-known political rapper Toomaj Salehi.

According to Amnesty International, the number of executions has risen sharply since the protests, reaching 853 people in 2023 – the highest number since 2015. The wave of executions continues in 2024, with at least 95 executions documented by March 20. It is likely that the actual numbers in both years are even higher. Even in exile, Iranians are monitored and threatened by the Iranian state: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has repeatedly warned Iranians living in Germany about espionage by Iranian authorities.

Nevertheless, asylum applications from Iranians in Germany are largely rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF): in 2023, the overall protection rate for Iranian asylum seekers was 45 percent. In the first quarter of 2024, the protection rate dropped to 39 percent. Thus, BAMF grants protection status to less than half of the applicants. As of the end of February 2024, more than 8,700 Iranians obligated to leave the country were living in Germany, over 7,800 of them with a temporary suspension of deportation (Duldung) (BT-Drucksache 20/11101, pp. 80/81). This group also protests against the regime in Germany or practices a religion or sexual orientation persecuted in Iran—making them extremely vulnerable if deported. Many now live in constant fear of deportation.

Moreover, all decisions regarding the lives of Iranian asylum seekers are, as far as known, based on a country report from the Federal Foreign Office dated November 2022: an outdated report that lacks the escalations from 2023 and 2024. Therefore, a new country report on Iran is urgently needed!

Yazidis from Iraq

In early 2023, the German Bundestag recognized the persecution of the Yazidis as genocide. The resolution states: “The diaspora is part of our society with all its experiences and memories. The German Bundestag will vigorously advocate for the protection of Yazidi life in Germany and their human rights worldwide.” Nevertheless, some federal states have begun deporting Yazidi men, women, and children to Iraq.

Deporting them to a country where they have no future. Since the genocide committed by the terrorist organization “Islamic State” in 2014, the Sinjar region in northern Iraq, where the Yazidis have lived for centuries, has become a life-threatening hotspot: state and non-state actors are ruthlessly vying for power and influence – and the Yazidis are caught in the middle. Even ten years later, 200,000 Yazidis are still languishing in Iraqi refugee camps, with no prospect of leaving. Many of them are survivors of torture without any psychological or physical support. An internal escape route within Iraq, as is often propagated, does not exist for the majority of Yazidis. A Yazidi family could not move to another part of the country; there, they would be without the vital community and without protection.

This dangerous and hopeless situation is also highlighted in the new report by PRO ASYL and Wadi e.V. from April 2024: “Ten Years After the Genocide: The Situation of Yazidi Women and Men in Iraq.”

Germany is home to the largest Yazidi diaspora in Europe, with around 250,000 people, and the second-largest community worldwide after Iraq. It is estimated that currently 5,000 to 10,000 Iraqi Yazidis are obligated to leave the country and are threatened with deportation to Iraq—and because some federal states have actually begun deporting entire families, the entire community lives in fear. However, people who have been recognized as survivors of a genocide must not be deported to the country where said genocide was committed. Germany must provide safety for the Yazidis.

It is irresponsible to deport people to countries where they cannot live safely, where they face persecution, torture, and death sentences. Therefore, we demand immediate deportation stops: for people from Iran and for Yazidi men, women, and children from Iraq.

ARBEITSKREIS ASYL TRIBSEES

AWO Bundesverband

Bayerischer Flüchtlingsrat

Bundesfachverband unbegleiteter minderjähriger Flüchtlinge e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Baden-Württemberg e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Berlin e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Niedersachsen e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat RLP e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Sachsen-Anhalt e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig-Holstein e.V.

Flüchtlingsrat Thüringen e.V.

HÁWAR.help e.V.

Hessischer Flüchtlingsrat e.V.

Neue Richtervereinigung e.V.
PRO ASYL e.V.

Saarländischer Flüchtlingsrat e.V.

Sächsischer Flüchtlingsrat e.V.

Stiftung gegen Rassismus

Zuflucht – Ökumenische Ausländerarbeit e.V.

This open letter was translated from the original in German.