Category: We can’t turn them away

The Government has responded on its new Number Ten website to the petition for locally employed Iraqis. It reads:

Thank you for your e-petition requesting that Locally Engaged (LE) staff in Iraq should be offered asylum in the UK.

In a written parliamentary Statement on 9 October 2007 , the Foreign Secretary acknowledged that LE Iraqi staff working for our Armed Forces and civilian missions in Iraq have made an invaluable contribution, in uniquely difficult circumstances, to the UK’s effort to support security, stability and development in Iraq. In recognition of this, the Government made the decision to offer these staff, on an ex gratia basis, assistance which goes above and beyond legal and contractual requirements.

Serving staff (defined for the scheme as those employed on or after 8 August 2007) who meet the criteria, are able to apply for one of three forms of assistance: a one-off package of financial assistance; leave to enter the UK, outside the immigration rules; or the opportunity of resettlement in the UK through the UK’s Gateway refugee resettlement programme. Former staff (defined as those whose employment ended before 8 August 2007), are able to apply for one of two forms of assistance: a one-off package of financial assistance; or the opportunity of resettlement in the UK through the UK’s Gateway refugee resettlement programme.

The Government has taken into account the need to ensure that any assistance scheme, in particular in respect of admission to or resettlement in the UK, is practical, realistic and preserves the integrity of wider immigration and asylum policy. For these reasons, the Government has sought to ensure that admission to the UK is managed as far as possible in line with existing processes and programmes. The UK Border Agency has worked closely with Employing Departments to develop a transparent process to assist eligible LE Iraqi staff in accessing the scheme.

Further details of the scheme of assistance were published in a written Ministerial Statement on 30 October 2007.

Since the scheme of assistance the UK is offering to Locally Engaged Iraqi staff was announced, staff across government have assessed just over 500 people as being eligible for assistance. Their cases are being taken forward as quickly as possible. To date, about 60% of those eligible, who have so far informed us of their preferred form of assistance, have opted for financial assistance.

The first individuals who chose to come to the UK with Indefinite Leave to Enter outside the Immigration Rules, arrived in April 2008 and July 2008. The first groups of former staff who have been accepted for resettlement to the UK under Gateway arrived in the UK in July and August 2008. Arrangements are being made to welcome others to the UK over the coming weeks and months.

We continue to fully recognise the efforts of LE Iraqi staff and remain committed to demonstrating our debt of gratitude to them.

I will be posting more later.

xD.

The government is continuing to fail to live up to its responsibilities to Iraqis who worked for the UK in Iraq and, now they are being hunted down as collaborators, need our help. I hand over to Dan Hardie to tell the latest chapter in this story:

Iraqi Employees: Fine words, shabby deeds

Do you like reading fine words? Here is the Prime Minister on the subject of Iraqi ex-employees of the British Government, speaking in the House of Commons on October 9th, 2007: ‘I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of our civilian and locally employed staff in Iraq, many of whom have worked in extremely difficult circumstances, exposing themselves and their families to danger. I am pleased therefore to announce today a new policy which more fully recognises the contribution made by our local Iraqi staff, who work for our armed forces and civilian missions in what we know are uniquely difficult circumstances.’

Fine words. What about deeds?

A small number of Iraqis – fewer than a dozen, according to people close to the operation who are in contact with me- were removed from Iraq in the early autumn of 2007. Since the Prime Minister’s admirable declaration of October, how many Iraqi ex-employees have been evacuated from Iraq? According to all the Iraqis that I am in contact with: none.

Here are the words of an Iraqi employee in Iraq, emailing me, today: ‘I am still in Iraq…I hear nothing from your Governmet yet!’

Here is what this man was told on February 3 by a conscientious British Civil Servant, out in Iraq to arrange the evacuation of Iraqi ex-employees and clearly shocked by the lack of progress: ‘‘I’m sorry that everything is taking so long to complete. Please note that we are waiting to hear what happens next from London and I can assure you all that I will personally contact you as soon as I receive instructions from London to confirm the next arrangements.’

Here is why he is hiding: ‘They (the militia) keep asking my relatives and my family’s neighbors about me and they keep moving in my family’s street and keep their eyes on our home… they told them: anyone know anything about A__ he should tell us immediately and also they said: we will never give up until we catch A__ .‘

And here is what the Right Honourable Bob Ainsworth, Minister of State for Defence, wrote to David Lidington, MP, about this same man on 16th January: ‘Mr Hardie expresses concern over the handling of a claim for assistance by a former employee of British Forces, Mr A_ … Mr A_ is eligible for the assistance scheme, and we have passed his details on to the Border and Immigration Agency who will take forward his request for resettlement in the UK via the Gateway programme. Assuming that there are no problems with Mr A__’s immigration checks he should be able to leave Iraq by the end of January…’ I added the emphasis, and I can also say that I have it in writing from the MoD that there were no problems with Mr A__’s immigration checks.

The Border and Immigration Agency is the Home Office Agency handling the last phase of the operation to resettle Iraqi ex-employees. And it is the BIA, according to every source of information that I have, that is delaying the evacuation of the Iraqis.

It is also supposed to be the Home Office that is co-ordinating the provision of housing to those Iraqis who do get resettled in the UK. In the House of Lords last month there was a debate on Iraq at the request of Lord Fowler, whom I had briefed on Iraqi ex-employees. Lord Chidgey, later backed by the Earl of Sandwich, asked a very pertinent question of the Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown, and he did not get a good answer: ‘…on the resettlement of Iraqis at risk under the Gateway Protection Programme, the Minister will be aware that its success is dependent on a sufficient number of local authorities participating. There is considerable concern that this is not the case at present. Will he advise what steps the Government are taking to ensure that local authorities will come forward?’

There are many operational and logistical difficulties in the way of an operation: I know that. But the Government has known about these people for at least six months, and has been publicly committed to helping them for over four months. That is enough time to plan for the difficulties- far more time than you usually get in a war.

The Home Office is dawdling while people are threatened with death.This is either incompetence in the face of a crisis, or it is a deliberate policy of putting bureaucratic obstacles in the face of fugitives. Neither is acceptable.

And beyond that, the policy itself is being used to keep out Iraqis who can prove that they worked for British forces, and who can prove that their lives are at risk as a result. One man, Hamed, worked for British forces on Shaibah Logistics Base for over two years, as the Government accepts. He was threatened by the militias, and gunmen went to his house, so he moved his family to Syria and slept on the base’s floor. He continued to work for the British. Hamed finally was given ‘notice to quit’ Shaibah when the base closed, and fled to Syria, where he cannot legally work and where he and his family are safe (so far) but hungry. The British Government knows who Hamed is. A British Army NCO who knew him has confirmed every detail of his story to me, saying that he knew that Hamed had reported the threats against him to the military authorities. The Government has written to Hamed to reject any claim for help, since he was ‘not directly employed’ by the military.

Another man, Waleed, was directly employed by the military, in 2005 and 2006. He worked as an interpreter for one Army unit for its six month tour, during which time he was fired upon and chased by militiamen as he made his way to the base; he started work for a second unit, after which he received a threat on his mobile phone detailing where he lived, what he did, and what would happen to him if he ‘collaborated’ any more. He was also hunted in Iraq, and has also fled to Syria. A British Government letter, which I have seen, informed him that he would not be assisted since he had not worked for the twelve-month period specified by the Government’s policy- which, alas, the militias do not seem to respect.

We got the Government to admit to its moral responsibilities. Now we have to get them to match their deeds to their words.

Please write a letter to your MP. His or her address is The House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA. If you don’t know who your constituency MP is, go here and type your postcode in. When you’ve sent a letter, follow it up with an email: his or her address will normally be SURNAMEINITIAL@parliament.uk – for example BROWNG@parliament.uk

Two or three days after you have written the letter, call the Parliamentary switchboard on 0207 219 3000 and ask for your MP’s office. Repeat your concerns to the secretary or research assistant you speak to (and be nice: most of these people work damn hard for little reward), check that your letter has been received, and politely request that the MP ask questions of Ministers and reply to you. In your email, your letter, and your phone calls, you must be courteous: insulting an MP or a research assistant will discredit this cause. Talking points for the letter are below:

• The Prime Minister announced a review of British policy towards its Iraqi ex-employees, due to the threats of murder they faced, on August 8th 2007, and he announced a change in that policy on October 9th, 2007. The Foreign Secretary made a more detailed policy statement on October 30th, 2007.
• Nearly four months later no Iraqis who have applied under the scheme have been evacuated from Iraq.
• Not one Iraqi ex-employee living as an illegal immigrant in Syria or Jordan has been resettled under the scheme.
• A debate in the House of Lords on DATE contained several references to resettlement being blocked by the failure of the Home Office to provide housing in the UK. The Home Office has had between four and six months to plan for this eventuality: it is inexcusable that they have not done so.
• Would the MP please put down written Questions to the Home Secretary asking why the Home Office is unable to live up to the Prime Minister’s publicy expressed commitment to rehouse Iraqi ex-employees whose lives are at risk for having worked for British forces?
• Would the MP please write in private to the Home Secretary, and to the Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne MP, asking what provision their department has made to implement a policy decided in early October, and further asking them if they are aware that lives are at risk and that rapid action needs to be taken?
• Would the MP also please write to the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary asking how many Iraqis who are ex-Employees of their departments have been resettled, and asking why Iraqis who are at risk for having worked for British forces are being abandoned for having ‘worked for less than 12 months’?
• Can the MP please forward these letters to the Prime Minister, who personally approved the change in policy.
• And finally, can the MP please reply to you with details of any Government response.
• If you want: you can give your MP my name and email address (danhardie.blog@gmail.com ) and tell them that I am in contact with a number of Iraqi ex-employees inside and outside Iraq, none of whom have received help from the Government, and that I would be happy to brief them with confidential details of these cases, either by telephone, email or in person at their Parliamentary offices. They should feel free to contact me.
• When you get a reply to your letter, email me (again, at danhardie.blog@gmail.com ) -it’s very important that I know which MPs are sympathetic and what the Government is telling them. And email me if you have anything else that needs saying. Thank you.

xD.

Lynne Featherstone has tabled a new EDM on the situation around the Iraqi employees. It reads:

That this House recognises the courage of Iraqis who have worked alongside British troops and diplomats in southern Iraq, often saving British lives; notes that many such Iraqis have been targeted for murder by Iraqi militias in Basra, and that an unknown number have already been killed, whilst many others are in hiding; further recognises that many Iraqis who have worked for fewer than 12 months for the UK are threatened by death squads; and therefore calls upon the Prime Minister to meet the UK’s moral obligations by offering resettlement to all Iraqis who are threatened with death for the “crime” of helping British troops and diplomats.

To date, it has been signed by eleven members of the Labour Party, two members of the Conservative Party, eleven Liberal Democrats, one member of the SDLP and one member of the DUP. The text of the EDM and the up-to-date list of signatories are on the Parliamentary website.

If your MP doesn’t appear on the list I link to above, please write to them asking them to sign the EDM. It’s number 401; there’s more information on EDMs in Parliament’s glossary. If you don’t know who your MP is, you can look it up with your post code on Write to Them. Their address is House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. Be polite and be courteous.

Further information is on the indefatigable Dan Hardie’s blog.

xD.

As many people will be aware, the Government has made only the barest of concessions towards helping Iraqis employed by British forces in Iraq who are being hunted down by death squads who view them as collaborators. Regardless of your opinion or lack thereof on the war in Iraq (for the record, I opposed it), Britain has a responsibility to these people that it put in harm’s way. I’m asking you to read this post, blog about it yourself and write to your MP.

Dan Hardie, the campaign co-ordinator, has had emails from three people claiming to be Iraqi former employees of the British Government. The ISPs confirm that one email was definitely sent from Damascus, the others from satellite networks serving the Middle East. He have spoken to two of them on the phone, using Iraqi telephone numbers. A Times journalist in the region tells Dan that two of them are certainly authentic: she has been in contact with them herself. The other has sent Dan scanned copies of his British Army IDs, and photographs of him with smiling soldiers. I believe all three are who they say they are. All three say that they and their former colleagues are still hiding from the death squads or dodging Syrian policemen.

The most eloquent arguments come from the Iraqis themselves. Here’s an email exchange between Dan and one of the Iraqis.

1) Are you still in Iraq? (I know that this information must be kept secret so that you are not put at risk.)
‘Yes, I’m still hidden in somewhere in the hell of Basra.’

2) Is there any reason you cannot travel to the British Army base at Basra Airbase to ask for asylum?
‘Of course, we cannot travel to BIA (Basra International Airbase) due to the militia keep watched all the ways to BIA and they got their own fake check points there although, we claimed for asylum through the internet (we sent our application to the claim office at BIA) . But we afraid that the British are going to take a long time to process our claims also we are very worried if they will offer just some money instead of asylum, please sir inform all the British people that we looking for asylum and just the asylum will save our lives, also we can’t travel to Syria anymore to claim for asylum there as the Syrian government issued new conditions for Iraqis who want to travel to their country.’

3) Can you tell me how and when the militias threatened you?
‘In 2006 I have threatened by militia that hated me because I work and help coalition forces in Iraq, I told my bosses about that but they said we can’t do anything for you because we have nothing to do with civilian and we don’t have any army rules or orders to help you, then I continued my daily work with British army, few days later the militia attacked my house trying to catch me but I was at the work at that time, they beaten my family and told them: we want your son or we will kill all of you!!!!

Since that day I decided to leave my job and change my home place but until this moment the militia trying to find and kill me, I’m always changing my place trying to hidden from them, they know that I left my job but they don’t care, they just want to kill me they called me collaborator and traitor and they asked everybody know me about my place, they told them: anyone know anything about [name] he should tell us immediately and also they said: we will never give up until we catch [name].

‘They work for ministry of interior so they controlled most of government departments and they work under that cover.’

4) Do you have any family members who are also threatened by militias or who depend on you? If so, how many of them are there and how old are they?
‘Of course, my family depends on me especially in the finance side as I’m the older son between seven sons and daughters they got, on other hand my parents cannot working as they are very old.’

5) Do you have written testimonials from British Army officers saying that you have worked for them? What are their names and what Regiments do they come from? Can you send me scanned copies of the testimonials? What date in 2003 did you start working for the British?
‘Yes, I have recommendations from high ranks British army personnel and I will send it for you in the next few hours and you will see in your eyes all the details you need.
I started in the beginning of the war with Commandos (in 30 of March 2003) then continued with 23 Pioneer Regt, and in 08 / 07 / 2003 I have joined the Labour Support Unit (LSU) as an office Manager.’

Another employee is in Syria, and is applying for aid from the British Embassy in Damascus. He can prove that he has worked for the British for over 12 months, after the magic date of 1st January 2005. But he isn’t safe, either. He is staying illegally in Syria, having considerably over-run the 15-day visa on which he entered the country. He tells me ‘If I see any syrian officer i really get fear , becuase of my expired visa.’ Colleagues of this man are also hiding in Damascus and are even worse off than he is, because they don’t meet the perverse and arbitrary time stipulations. The British Government, which asked us to accept that it was invading Iraq in part because of its horror at the brutality of the Ba’athist dictatorship, is now perfectly happy to leave its own former employees to the mercies of Syrian Ba’athists. One of his emails follows.

‘I know 4 former interpreters worked less than a year (for the British: DH), but they went to the embassy and they filled the paper with out telling the guards we had worked for less than a year. The syrian guards have got instructions from the embassy (British Embassy in Damascus: DH), that (they) do not give that form to any interpreter who worked for British less than a year or any former interpreter who worked in 2003 and fled to syria before 2005.’

You’ve heard this before, but it’s now more important than ever. The last round of emails, letters and pestering meant the Government acknowledged the problem exists, but its response was ill thought-out and grossly inadequate. It only takes a moment to contact your MP. Below are some talking points that you might like to use in an email and/or print letter; do chase them for an answer. Remember to be polite and courteous; an insulted MP will not raise this matter with Ministers, and that will lead to more avoidable deaths. When you get an answer, email Dan at danhardie.blog@gmail.com and let me know what they said. Dan is in direct contact with Iraqi employees.

Your MP’s address is The Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.
His or her email address is probably SURNAMEINITIAL@parliament.uk (eg BROWNG@parliament.uk ).

Talking points:

• On October 9th David Miliband announced that the British Government would assist former employees in Iraq, so long as they had worked for it after 1st January 2005 and for 12 months or more. That abandons several hundred Iraqis who have been targetd for murder because they worked for the British before that date- and in 2004 fighting between the Mahdi Army and the British was at its peak- or because they worked for less than that period, often leaving their jobs at the end of a British battalion’s six-month tour. The British Government must help Iraqi employees on the basis of the risk they face, not according to an arbitrary time stipulation. This only affects a few hundred Iraqis, whom we are well able to shelter, and for whom we have a direct moral responsibility.
• Even those Iraqi employees who qualify for assistance are not being properly assisted. Iraqis in Basra are not able to apply via the British Army in Basra Interational Airbase, since it is ringed with militia checkpoints. Iraqi ex-employees in Damascus are being screened by Syrian policemen guarding the British Embassy and delayed by lengthy bureaucratic procedures when they apply for asylum, although many of them are illegally overstaying their Syrian visas and face deportation back to Iraq.
• A blogger called Dan Hardie is directly in touch with a number of Iraqi employees via email and phone. He is willilng to brief MPs- as concisely as possible- either over the phone or via email. He can be reached at danhardie.blog@gmail.com

xD.

Two pieces of news on the Iraqi employees front. Firstly, the meeting has been moved to the Attlee Suite, Portcullis House. It will still take place at 1900 tomorrow, Tuesday 9th.

Secondly, the Government has committed itself to supporting Iraqis who have worked for the British in Iraq for over a year; that is woefully insufficient. It recognises the problem – that people who are seen as ‘collaborators’ and their families face death, but won’t help all of them.

xD.

Two important posts from Dan Hardie:

Maintain the pressure

I am not a doctor

xD.

Let’s say that a company comes and offers you a job. There aren’t any other jobs and you need to feed yourself and your family. It’s a dangerous job, but the company offers to protect you. Then the company decides it doesn’t need you. Not only are you out of work, but you’re now being hunted down by people who don’t like that company. They refuse to help you.

Would you work for that company again? Would you work for that company for the first time if you saw how they treated ex-employees?

Probably not. The company in question is the UK, the employees are Iraqis employed in Iraq as translators and so on and if, for no other reason than it will make it impossible to recruit local staff anywhere in the world again, should we need to, we should give them and their families asylum in the UK. We can’t turn them away.

xD.

…and neither should we. Good news – the US is making it easier for Iraqis who worked for the US in Iraq to gain refugee status.

Story courtesy of Norm, via Mr Eugenides.

xD.

I was delighted to receive a response from my MP, Mark Field, that was supportive of the Iraqi interpreters.

The body reads:

Thank you so much for your letter of [date] regarding the asylum applications of Iraqi interpreters who have worked for the British Army.I appreciate and understand your worry about the future of the interpreters, particularly as we have not yet received a firm commitment from the government on the issue. You may be interested to know that I have already been contacted about this matter by a number of other constituents, including a Major in the Army who was concerned about the future of his own interpreter.

I wrote to the Home Secretary some weeks ago to request information on the stance the government will be taking on the interpreters’ applications and to ask for my concern to be registered. Unfortunately I have not yet received a reply from her, but I anticipate her responding within the thirty day time bracket we have to allow for ministerial correspondence.

There will be a cross-party meeting, organised by the online campaign for Asylum rights for Iraqi employees. It will take place in Parliament in Committee Room 14 (St Stephen’s Entrance) from 7-9pm on Tuesday 9th October. Please arrive early to avoid hideous disappointment, etc.

In the meantime, you can find background information here courtesy of Dan Hardie, replies from MPs here from Chicken Yoghurt and a list of supporting bloggers on Bloggerheads.

xD.