UN REPRESENTATIVE CALLS FOR ACTION ON DISPLACED IN IRAQ

16 May 2003




Following is a statement issued today in Geneva by the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons, Francis M. Deng:



As the conflict recedes in Iraq and persons internally displaced as a result of the war are returning to their homes, it is important to address 1) The problems of the estimated one million persons previously displaced in Iraq because of the policies of the Saddam Hussein regime; and 2) The problems caused by the current expulsion of persons from their homes by those seeking to reclaim their lost homes and properties.

The Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement, in its 2002 report, The Internally Displaced People of Iraq,* documents over the past 20 years the forced displacement of an estimated: 600,000 to 700,000 Kurdish people in the north of the country; more than 100,000 Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians from the fertile and oil-rich Kirkuk area; tens of thousands of Arab Shiites in the center and south of the country; and 100,000 to 200,000 Marsh Arabs from their habitat along the lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The human suffering caused by these expulsions must be acknowledged by the new Iraqi authorities and the international community with efforts made to address the political, economic, ethnic and social problems at the root of these displacements. In particular, it should be acknowledged that persons who were displaced have the right to return to their home areas or to resettle in existing or new areas in Iraq, according to their preference. The relevant authorities have the responsibility to create conditions, as well as provide the means, to allow displaced persons to exercise these preferences voluntarily, in safety and dignity. To this end, reconstruction and development funds, including oil revenues, should be used to help people return and also obtain compensation for land and property lost as a consequence of displacement.

Specifically, the Representative would suggest the following steps:

In the north of the country, all relevant local and national authorities, in collaboration with the international community, should undertake the rebuilding of the thousands of destroyed Kurdish villages as well as the de-mining of these areas so that Kurds can return to their home areas or if they choose, resettle elsewhere.

An Iraqi commission with representative ethnic and religious makeup should be established in the Kirkuk area to enable displaced Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians to return and in an organized and lawful process regain their land and property or receive appropriate compensation. In either case, fairness must be assured for the more than 200,000 Arabs who had been brought into these areas. The reports of expulsions of Arabs supposedly to right earlier wrongs only creates new misdeeds and new displacement. To help these diverse groups better manage their returns and their competing land and property claims, the United Nations should be requested to assist, given its experience in this area. It could provide objective advice and assistance with returns and help set up effective claims commissions to adjudicate property disputes.

Finally, there must be acknowledgement of the damage done to the Marsh Arabs and their 5,000-year old culture and habitat. Consultations should be promptly held with the former inhabitants of the marshes, a feasibility study undertaken to see whether some of the marshes could be restored, and a compensation scheme set up for those who cannot return. Efforts must also be made to de-mine these areas.

Forced displacement is one of the more insidious assaults on human rights and can undermine and violate ethnic identity and dignity. The quicker the displacement can be acknowledged and addressed, the more likely it will be that stability and unity will be brought to Iraq.



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For further information please contact:

Matthias Behnke, Human Rights Officer
Assistant to the Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons
Special Procedures Branch
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais Wilson, Room 3.091
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

Fax: +41 22 917 9006
e-mail:mbehnke@ohchr.org


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* The authors of the report are John Fawcett and Victor Tanner. Copies can be obtained from gsanchez@brookings.edu or by calling (202) 797-6145.



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