IFIR-Eng The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees
The United Nations has designated June 20 as the World Refugee Day since 1951. We are approaching World Refugee Day this year at a time when human society is going through a dangerous and difficult era. The world is in a state of turmoil. Economic and financial crises, war, militarism, terrorism, racism, the rise of nationalism, religious fanaticism, repression, tyranny, discrimination, destruction, unemployment, poverty, and homelessness have driven a substantial portion of the world’s population to migrate and seek safe refuge. Imperialist states and forces are engaged in a fierce battle to re-divide the world and expand their domains of influence, fictitious profits, and capital accumulation. They are prepared to cause huge tragedies to humanity and subject the planet to nuclear and biological warfare to achieve their goal.
The phenomenon of refugees continues to be common 71 years after the proclamation of the Convention on the Rights of Refugees. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of people displaced by war, religious conflict, political repression, and economic hardships has risen to 100 million, with about half of them being internally displaced. In less than four months, the number of Ukrainian refugees has risen to 14 million, the greatest wave of relocation since World War II.
In the shadow of the world powers’ and their regional allies’ ruthless competition in the hands of ethnic, religious, and sectarian conservative groups, racism and prejudice are on the rise, in addition to war, civilian deaths, and mass displacement. This is in addition to the people bearing the burden of the war’s legacy and the coronavirus epidemic, with food, petrol, gas, power, and basic necessities costs shockingly rising, all for the sake of capital dominance and accumulation. Millions of people’s lives have been pushed into a dark tunnel of war, militarism, death, and instability, with mass displacement as a result. Millions of individuals have been compelled to travel the high highways of the sea, the borders, and the freezing forests in order to settle as refugees in a European country and be recognised as modern humans. Unfortunately, despite being utilised to ease crises, fights between the semi-wings, government’s racist and fascist attacks, and callous policies and trade in their lives and futures continue.
The Western and European authorities are the source of the wars and destruction that have plagued human society, but they are not willing to pay the price for their bad policies. They have turned the refugee case into a political tool between governments and is being traded. Moreover, despite the tightening of borders and forcing refugees to choose the path of death and dangerous, looking at the tragic level of disintegrated and frozen bodies of refugees in the sea, inside their countries to deprive them of their necessities It creates refugees and often ends in suicide! They deprive refugees of their right to study, work and travel. They call the refugees as a source of threat to their countries and have used this as an excuse to intervene in the hands of the most conservative authorities and governments that the refugees have fled from to forcibly deport them to this hell against their will.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of refugees who have died in the past six months to reach European and peaceful countries, about 2,358 refugees. Compared to the first six months of last year, the number of victims was 1,468 refugees, a significant increase! 1,737 refugees have been arrested in the past six months. In the past year alone, 32 Kurdish refugees have died in various accidents in Turkey and European countries including the UK, additionally the disappearance and the failure to find the bodies of dozens of Kurdish refugees who lost their lives at sea.
The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR) on World Refugee Day presents the following demands to the signatories of the Bill of Rights of Refugees:
1. They must immediately halt the policy of deporting refugees and war displaced persons to inhumane camps and hostels, isolating them from urban life and relocating them to social and compassionate locations.
2. The European and British governments should press places where refugees cross on foot to open their borders to refugees and dismantle barbed border walls, so that refugees are not forced to go over dangerous sea and forest pathways.
3. The European and British governments should be forced to cancel the refugee and deportation agreements they have signed with Turkey, Greece, and Rwanda.
4. Release refugees from detention centers as soon as possible.
5. Provide necessary facilities and criteria in a planned manner so that refugees and migrants can be accommodated as quickly as possible in the communities where they seek sanctuary and can enjoy all of their individual, social, and economic needs equitably.
6. Recognize the right to asylum for all political refugees who have been displaced as a result of war, ethnic or religious conflict, or sexual persecution, and aid them in resuming their normal lives.
The Federation of Iraqi Refugees will continue to fight against deportation, the right to stay and flee, against racism and discrimination, and against the rights of equal citizens Refugee rights, trade unions, political parties and other parties that consider themselves defenders of refugee rights should support these demands and not leave refugees alone.
No to deportation policy! The right to asylum is a human right!
International Federation of Iraqi Refugees-IFIR
19th June 2022
