Brussels, 08/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and the United States should welcome onto their territory residents of the Iraqi Camp Ashraf, which is home to 3,400 Iranian refugees who are opposed to the Tehran regime, Maryam Radjavi, the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, suggested on Tuesday 7 February at a conference of the European Parliament.
“I call on the EU and the United States immediately to accept a number of sick and injured residents of Ashraf”, said Radjavi. “Any delay in this is unacceptable and unjustifiable”, she added.
The former Irish prime minister and former EU ambassador to the US, John Bruton, gave her his support, stating that it is “vital for the member states to state now that they are prepared to accept individual residents, which will make the work of the UN High Commission for Refugees easier”.
The MEP Struan Stevenson (ECR, UK), urged his colleagues to put pressure on their countries of origin to host residents. He accused France of going “to the countries of the Schengen zone to ask them not to take these people”. When contacted by Agence Europe, a French diplomatic source expressed surprise at this comment, adding that “no decision has yet been made by the French government”.
Unacceptable hosting conditions. But before they can come to the West, the residents need to obtain refugee status and will be transferred to another camp in Iraq, Camp Liberty. “The EU, the US and the UN should actively and immediately intervene to prevent Camp Liberty from being turned into a prison (…). We remain committed in favour of transfer to the camp and we are only asking for minimum guarantees (…). The red line is to preserve dignity”, said Radjavi. She called for freedom of movement for the residents of the camp and called for the Iraqi security forces not to be present inside it. (CG/transl.fl)