The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will immediately start the process of verification and refugee status determinations, a key step in preparing the submissions of eligible candidates for resettlement in third countries.Today’s relocation is in line with the memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government to resolve the situation facing the residents of Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf)..
The United States encourages Ashraf residents to continue their cooperation with Iraqi authorities and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) as they work to complete the relocation to Hurriya, she said. The United States will continue to coordinate with UNAMI and the Iraqi government to follow the relocation process, she said. In addition to around-the-clock UN human rights monitoring, the U.S. will visit the temporary transit facility at Hurriya regularly and frequently,U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Saturday.
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton Saturday”very much welcomed”the news from Iraq that the first group of residents from Camp Ashraf has moved in a voluntary, orderly and peaceful manner to Camp Hurriya.”I congratulate the United Nations – in particular the Secretary General’s Special Representative Martin Kobler – for many weeks of sustained efforts to facilitate this critical first step towards a peaceful solution..
Martin Kobler, the U.N. secretary general’s special representative and head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), was at the temporary site to welcome the new arrivals.“This is the first step towards a better future outside Iraq,” he said. “I look forward to their continued cooperation with the Iraqi authorities to complete the relocation without delay.”He also praised the Iraqi for having ensured the “safe and secure relocation” ..
Several hundred Iranian exiles were traveling to a UN-approved site near Baghdad on Saturday after leaving Camp Ashraf, where Iranian opposition members have been based for decades.The move is part of a December 25 deal between the UN and Iraq..Iraq had previously aimed to close Camp Ashraf in Diyala province..But Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki said on December 21 that his government had agreed to extend the deadline to April
The plan now agreed to by the Iraqi government should be given a chance to work. As a first step, it calls for the camp residents to voluntarily relocate to a transit site at the Baghdad airport. In contrast to Camp Ashraf, this site would be monitored around the clock by observers from the United Nations. There, the residents would be interviewed by the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, to determine their eligibility for refugee status..
The Secretary-General reiterates that the Government of Iraq bears the primary responsibility for the security and the welfare of the residents of Camp Ashraf..At the same time, the residents of Camp Ashraf also bear a responsibility to abide by the laws of Iraq. Any provocation or violence must be avoided and would be unacceptable…UNHCR and UNAMI had confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the new relocation camp met international standards.
“The residents of Camp Ashraf must make the decision to start this relocation process. Camp Ashraf is no longer a viable home for them. They have no secure future there,”said Fried…Fried urged the MEK aka MKO/PMOI to make the decision to move to Camp Hurriya, and he asked the group’s many supporters in Washington to convey that message directly to the MEK.
In short, it is time for the MEK to make the decision to start the move out of Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty-Hurriya from where they can begin new lives outside of Iraq. A peaceful solution, no matter what the circumstances, is the only acceptable solution, but it is time to move forward.Now, with that, I’ll take your questions. And – oh, I should add that the UN head of mission in Iraq Martin Kobler and I were in Europe late last week discussing ..
It seems that your official intervention can be a serious help in this regard and it can overcome all the pmoi leadership’s excuses , pretexts and decisions. We are urging you to force pmoi to stay devoted to its own commitments which officially accepted and signed in front of the UN representative and in this regard they should accept all the consequences if they do not accept and reject the concluded agreement. ..