VI. Iraqi Refugees and Migrants

In 2007, Iraqis were the largest nationality group of asylum seekers lodging new claims in the European Union (EU),[43] and, indeed, in the world.[44]  The number of Iraqi asylum seekers applying in the EU doubled from 2006 to 2007, increasing from 19,375 to 38,286.[45]   But only two countries, Sweden (18,600) and Greece (5,500), hosted fully 62 percent of all Iraqi asylum applicants in 2007.[46]  The inequitable burden on these two countries has had negative consequences.[47]

Despite horrendous sectarian violence and widespread generalized violence in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, Greece neither granted refugee status nor subsidiary protection [48] based on generalized violence to a single one of the 5,474 Iraqis who lodged asylum claims in 2007. [49]   Greece rejected 3,948 Iraqis after first interviews, with the remainder pending at year's end. [50]

At the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, Greece suspended hearing any appeals of Iraqi asylum denials.  For pending cases, this ensured that Iraqis who were able to renew their red cards[51] at least would not be deported to Iraq, but it also left them in limbo with no possibility to reunite with family members or to integrate into Greek society.  Under criticism for its extremely low asylum approval rates, the Greek authorities decided in July 2007 to resume hearing appeals of Iraqi cases and gave priority to certain Iraqi cases before the Appeals Committee.  In fact, the cases the Appeals Committee heard were overwhelmingly old cases, mostly of Christians who had been living in Greece long before the war started.[52]

The prioritization of old Iraqi cases in the appeals procedure has had a somewhat distorting effect on recent asylum statistics.  Out of the 6,000 cases the Appeals Committee heard in 2007, it recommended granting asylum to 140, of whom 107 were Iraqis-and all of those were Christians who had applied for asylum prior to the beginning of the war in 2003.[53]  

Iraqis living in Greece generally would prefer not to seek asylum in Greece and those who opt for Greece usually do so only because there are no other options. 

Determining the nationality of Iraqis at all can be quite a challenge.[54]  Many Iraqis are afraid to disclose their true nationality out of fear that Iraqis are more likely to be deported than other nationalities.  Many claim that they are Palestinians, a group that cannot be deported. One, who at first told Human Rights Watch that his nationality was Palestinian, added with a wink, "Sometimes you have to lie to survive."[55]   Ironically, however, in the past six months, as the freeze on processing Iraqi appeals cases has been lifted and Iraqi claims are being granted, an increasing number of Arabic speakers who are not Iraqis are now claiming to be Iraqis.[56]

Despite the almost universal preference of Iraqis not to seek asylum in Greece, Human Rights Watch interviews with scores of Iraqis in Greece revealed many with strong claims for refugee status, including kidnapping and torture victims, people with close relatives and associates who had been targeted and killed, and members of groups subjected to persecution.  

Iraqis told Human Rights Watch harrowing and detailed testimony about human rights abuses they experienced in Iraq.  There is no typical testimony, but some are indicative of conditions many face.  A 28-year-old Shi`a man who is undocumented in Greece and has not sought asylum there said that he had been kidnapped by the Mahdi Army and subsequently fled to escape forced recruitment from his former kidnappers:

I am Shi`a from the Hayy al-Bunuuk neighborhood of Baghdad. I left because of the Mahdi Army.  They wanted me to spy for them, to tell them who was Sunni, who was who.  I refused.  They then threatened to kill me.  They kidnapped me on October 16, 2006, and my family paid $2,000 to get me released.  My family couldn't afford more, so they accepted this amount.  I was held for 12 or 13 days.  The Mahdi Army came back to me after they kidnapped and released me to tell me they wanted me to be an informant for them.  It was the same guys who kidnapped me who asked me to join them.  I left because the time had come for me to escape.  That was January 2007.[57]

Others, such as this 33-year-old man of mixed Sunni-Shi`a parentage, told Human Rights Watch how they escaped from Sunni militias:

I have a Sunni father and a Shi`a mother.  Because we are half Sunni and half Sh`a, everyone sees us as spies.  We pray in the Shi`a way.  When Sunnis see me pray, they look at me like I'm an animal, like I am the enemy. Two of my brothers worked as translators for the Americans.  A terrorist killed one of my brothers, Ali. [He shows a photo of the dead brother and his death certificate.]  They told Ali to come with them, got him alone, and then shot him four times in the chest.  The same people who killed my brother are the ones who hate me for praying the Shi`a way. 

Terrorists caught me on my way to my job on April 11, 2004.  They kidnapped and tortured me for four days.  They beat my head and back.  I still can't sit without pain.  I have scars on my eyebrows.  After four days they contacted my family.  They took me by car on the highway, hit my head with a rifle butt, and left me.  It was near Fallujah.  My face was covered in blood.[58]

Many of the Iraqi migrants and asylum seekers in Greece are also Christians who have fled targeted persecution.  A 33-year-old Christian from Baghdad-who has not sought asylum in Greece-gave this account of his reasons for fleeing:

A Sunni militia killed my father and my sister's husband in 2005.  My younger sister's husband was kidnapped, held for a $25,000 ransom and released.  I had a car and was going between Baghdad and Syria when Al-Qaeda in Iraq stopped me in al-Anbar.  They told me to become a Muslim or they would kill me.  I declared the Shahada.[59]  They followed me to my neighborhood, Dora.    They destroyed my house.  I took my wife and children, and we moved to northern Iraq, but you can only stay in the north if you are from the north.  I am not a Kurd.  I couldn't go out.  I couldn't work there. I could not support my family.[60]