Brody's Notes... EU Nations Breaching UN Rules On Returning LGBT Asylum Seekers To Iraq

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Apr 27 | Amnesty International, in a report issued today called for an end to all forcible returns of refugees to Iraq as long as the country remains unstable. AI noted that this was especially critical for persons who are Gay or Lesbian. Several European governments are forcibly returning people to Iraq – including to the most dangerous parts of the country – in direct violation of guidelines set out by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa programme director Malcolm Smart said:

“Iraqis are still living in a climate of fear, seven years after the US-led invasion. The Iraqi authorities could do much more to keep them safe, but over and over they are failing to help the most vulnerable in society. 

The continuing uncertainty as to when a new government will be formed following last month’s election could well contribute to a further increase of violent incidents of which civilians are the main victims. The uncertainty is threatening to make a bad situation even worse. Both the Iraqi authorities and the international community must act now to prevent more unnecessary deaths,” he said.

Amnesty International also called on the Iraqi authorities to urgently step up the protection of civilians amid the recent surge of deadly violence in the country. Ongoing uncertainty over when a new Iraqi government will be formed has led to a recent spike in attacks, with more than 100 civilian deaths in the first week of April alone.

At issue also according to the report is that Iraqi courts were continuing to interpret provisions of Article 128 of the Penal Code as justification for giving "drastically reduced" sentences to defendants who have attacked or killed gay men they are related to if they say that they acted to “wash off the shame or so-called honour crimes," if the victim's behaviour is seen to go against traditional moral codes," which are not in accordance with some Islamic practises as interpreted by the more militant groups. In the last year alone, there have been nearly 35 documented cases in Baghdad alone where men & youths have been specifically targeted because they were thought to be Gay and were murdered by these groups.

In an interview with PinkNews.co.uk's Editor-In-Chief Jessica Geen, Ali Hili, the head of an London-based Iraqi LGBT organisation, told her that the British government was "failing Iraqi lesbians and gays".

He said: "We welcome the report. We continue to receive reports of killings and now have over 738 documented.
"Within the last fortnight two young gay men were taken by men in police uniforms and their graffitied bodies displayed in one of Baghdad's main squares.
"We have and will continue to try to get people to safety but the British government must do more. It is wrong to tell Iraqi asylum seekers that it is safe to return if only they are 'discreet', which they have done."

UK campaigners have complained in recent years that gay asylum seekers from around the world are being deported by UK authorities on the grounds that they will be safe in their home countries if they are "discreet."   

Homosexuality is not illegal in Iraq but it is frowned upon. Amnesty said members of the gay community in Iraq, where homosexuality is not tolerated, live under constant threat of violence, with some Muslim clerics urging their followers to attack suspected homosexuals.