Human Rights Group Says Britain is Wrong to Return Asylum Seekers to Iraq

According to a human rights group, the UK is among several European counties that are defying international rules by returning asylum seekers to Iraq despite continued violence. Amnesty International accused Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and even Sweden of forcibly repatriating Iraqis to extremely dangerous parts of the country. This is a breach of United Nations guidelines.

The campaign body said that there have been more than 100 civilian deaths in the first week of this month alone. Now with religious and ethnic minorities, women and gay men are being particularly targeted. Amnesty International is calling for the return of failed asylum seekers only when the security situation in the whole country is stabilized.

The groups report claims that hundreds of thousands of people in minority communities have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the continuing insecurity more than seven years after the United States led invasion. This does include thousands of Christians, as well as many members of the Sabean Mandaean religion, Yazidis and women and girls, being targeted for un-Islamic behavior. Amnesty International said that many of these people are at risk of being killed. This includes dozens of women murdered in Basra on moral grounds and at least 25 men and boys thought to be gay were killed in February of last year.

The Amnesty's Middle East Director, Malcolm Smart, said that Iraqis are still living in a climate of fear, even seven years after the United States led invasion. The uncertainty is threatening to make a bad situation even worse. Both Iraqi authorities and the international community must act now to prevent more unnecessary deaths.