Brussels, 21/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the visit of Martin Kobler, the United Nations Secretary General's special envoy, to the European Parliament on Wednesday 21 March to discuss the situation in Camp Ashraf, six MEPs have expressed their deep concern at the living conditions in Camps Ashraf and Liberty. In a letter signed on Monday 19 March, Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP, Spain), Stephen Hughes (S&D, UK), Louis Michel (ALDE, Belgium), José Bové (Greens/EFA, France) Oldrich Vlasak (ECR, Czech Republic) and Struan Stevenson (ECR, UK) called on Kobler to “place maximum pressure” on the Iraqi government “to rectify all of the noted shortcomings at Camp Liberty and ensure that the infrastructure of the camp meets the terms of the memorandum of understanding (signed in December) and the required international humanitarian standards prior to any further transfer of refugees from Ashraf”. The MEPs say that the conditions in Camp Liberty do not currently come up to international humanitarian or human rights standards. They highlight the poor state of the streets, the water supply and electricity generators, along with the restrictions on freedom, denial of access to lawyers and the presence of armed forces in the camp.
The MEPs also suggest that the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Kobler speed up the process of interviewing residents of Camp Liberty, a prerequisite for their being accorded refugee status. They say that, at the current rate of progress, it will take eight years to interview all the residents. “We would also reiterate the need for a considerable acceleration of the process of interviewing residents by UNHCR in order that the rapid re-settlement of refugees out of Iraq can begin without further delay”, they write. (CG/transl.rt)