Lord Hylton (Crossbench)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the views expressed by the United Nations Special Representative for Iraq in the International Herald Tribune on 16 February, concerning the residents of Camp Ashraf, in particular regarding their permanent resettlement in third countries.
Hansard source (Citation: HL Deb, 27 February 2012, c280W)
Lord Howell of Guildford (Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Conservative)
The Government welcome the ongoing efforts of United Nations (UN) Special Representative of the Secretary-General Martin Kobler to broker a peaceful solution to the situation at Camp Ashraf. We welcome the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Government of Iraq and the UN to allow for the voluntary transfer of some residents to Camp Liberty.
The one British citizen we were aware was in Camp Ashraf has left and returned to the UK. Of the five Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf with valid UK refugee travel documents, four have left Camp Ashraf and arrived in the UK. The fifth is free to return to the UK so long as the refugee travel document remains valid. The UK has agreed to consider further the cases of the approximately 50 residents with previous residence in the UK as refugees who do not have valid refugee travel documents, subject to UNHCR (the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) conducting an assessment of their refugee status. The UK has no plans to provide resettlement opportunities for other residents of Camp Ashraf or Camp Liberty.
