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Gonul Eglence, member of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia speaking to Rudaw on August 11, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi asylum seekers should not be deported to Iraq because it is not a safe country, a German regional parliament member told Rudaw on Friday. More than 30,000 Iraqis have been denied asylum by the German government in the first half of this year.
Gonul Eglence, a member of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, explained Germany’s deportation policy.
“Regardless of whether they are from Iraq or other countries, the legal principle is that people who do not meet certain conditions, for example, dangerous people, must be deported,” she told Rudaw’s Alla Shally. “There are special situations there too. One is whether they come from a safe third country. Iraq is not one of the safe third countries. Therefore, no one can be deported to Iraq.”
A spokesperson from the German Federal Ministry of the Interior told Rudaw's Zinar Shino in an email on Friday that Germany had rejected the cases of 31,000 Iraqi asylum seekers in the first half of 2023. During this period, 256 Iraqis have been deported - 43 to Iraq and the rest to other countries.
In January, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani led an Iraqi delegation to Germany. Fuad Hussein, Iraq’s foreign minister, told Rudaw at the time that Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz had talked with Sudani about deporting tens of thousands of Iraqis who are in Germany illegally.
“He said that 35,000 to 36,000 Iraqis do not have residency permits. He requested the Iraqi side to help him find a way to return these people to their country because they do not have citizenship or residency there,” Hussein said.
Eglence explained that many individuals cannot be deported because they could face political persecution or risk to their lives based on their religious beliefs. “Those people will not be deported. Instead, they receive Duldung. That means they can stay temporarily,” she said.
Eglence also said that they are pushing to improve existing legislation in order to increase the opportunities for migrants and skilled workers to reside in Germany.
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior told Rudaw that they do not currently have a deal with the Iraqi government to deport asylum seekers.
Tens of thousands of mostly young people leave Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for Europe annually in search of a better life, using smuggling routes. They risk their lives crossing borders in harsh, freezing conditions or taking deadly sea crossings to reach mainland Europe or the United Kingdom. Many hope to settle in Germany.
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