Udvalget for Udlændinge- og Integrationspolitik 2012-13
UUI Alm.del Bilag 59
Offentligt
The Mandaean Associations Union19 ketch roadMorristown, NJ 07960, USA+973 292 0309[email protected]www.mandaeanunion.org
Mandaean Human Rights GroupThe Mandaean Human Rights ReportUpdate on the Situation of Mandaean in the Middle EastDecember 2012
Urgent action is needed to save the Mandaean refugees in SyriaSince the release of the annual report of the MHRG in October 2012 where we voiced our worryingconcern about the situation of the Mandaean religious refugees in Syria we find that the situation is alot more alarming now with the deterioration of the security situation in Syria, where we have 2000mandaeans at great risk of harm by both the situation and the extremists in Syria.This is an utterly urgent situation that should be taken very seriously and to be act upon by the UN,and the governments of the USA, AUSTERLIA, IRAQ and the Governments of the E.U.As all concerned aware that the Mandaeans were and still refugees in Syria escaped from Iraq as theirpersecution reached the 4thstage of genocide – please refer to our reports 2008-2009- they stuck therenow as the security situation is getting worse. The Mandaean refugees are at a very serious risk ofharm as they could be victimised by any of the fighting fractions within the country.The refugees cannot go back to IraqThe refugees cannot go back to Iraq ,they would risk their life for sure we notice that confirmation inthe UNHCR report released May 2012 [ HCR/EG/IRQ/12/03 ] *page 29‘’Mostreligious leaders have either been killed or fled the country. Eight Sabaean Mandaeans werereportedly killed and five injured in 2010 in what were reported to be targeted attacks. In 2011,additional kidnappings and killings were reported by the Mandaean Association Union .Sabaean-Mandaeans goldsmiths reportedly continued to receive threats and suffer from attacks. Even in casesof kidnapping for ransom, the perpetrators may deliberately single our Sabaean-Mandaeans due totheir vulnerable status as religious minority, considered ’’infidel’’. There have been reports ofkidnapped Sabaean-Mandaeans killed or remaining missing despite the payment of ransom.In addition to targeted violence perpetrated against Sabaean- Mandaeans the community has alsosuffered from social marginalization and religious discrimination. There are no schools in southernand central Iraq that teach children their language Aramaic ,and children are obliged to undertakeQur’anic studies at public schools. Sabaean-mandaean women are pressured to observe the Higabin public in order to avoid physical and verbal abuse, although their religion does not requireveiling. Reportedly , Sabaean-Mandaean women have been pressured to marry outside their faith incontradiction with their religious customs and have been pressured to convert to Islam.Also mentioned on the same page‘’Sabaean-Mandaeans are particularly vulnerable to attacks forseveral reasons . Unlike other groups in Iraq the pacifist Mandaeans did not form militias to defendthemselves .Further the already small community lives in scattered groups.The above situation is still the same in Iraq taking into consideration that the number of the Sabaean-Mandaeans who chose to stay are 10% of the total number of Mandaeans all over the world nearly70000.
2 December 13, 2012PageAtrocities against the mandaeans in Iraq since September 2011.It was noticeable that the atrocities were taking cyclical pattern as if it is a process of reminding thecommunity, no doubt the main product of this is the terror and fear rooted in the people living in Iraq,also it was noticeable that it took place in different areas of the country and in different formsFawzy Jabbar Mutar Al Zuhairy was kidnapped on December 2011 ,his body was discovered onMarch 2012 in a cemetery in Karbala province.Miss Randa Kareem Jabbar was kidnapped on June 10th–2012 in Arbeel – Kurdistan she is stillmissing.Religious man Basheer Hameed Al Zuhairy had his house attacked on June 23rd2012 in Messanprovince by gun men who terrorise him and his family by random shooting.Salam Mohy Sahar received threats from unknown group in Baghdad ,and was asked to leavewithin 3 days or his wife would be kidnapped , his widowed sister Hadiya with her 3 children alsowas attacked and her daughter sustained knife injury.In Basra Abdull Hasan Ghanim was attacked his daughter sustained broken arm they left to Syria.
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6- A Mandaean lady Malahim Diya'a Hasab kidnapped with her two children (born 2000 & 2004) onAugust 25th 2012 from Palestine camp in Syria , released after negotiation and paying ransom toabducteesIn Iraq, The mandaeans are still sometimes treated as third class citizens and called infidels withsocial discrimination in different areas of the country . Their work opportunities are limited in thegovernmental sector, hence large number are self-employed in the goldsmith trade but not withoutproblems. On the 7thof December 2012, in one of the main Jewellery streets –Al Naher – wheretraditionally the mandaeans gold smiths based, though their number reduced to less than tenth of theoriginal, the police rounded them and took large numbers to the local police station treated badly andwere accused of smuggling gold without any proof or evidence,. Bribes were asked as condition ofrelease.The children are forced to learn Quran or participate in the Shiet Islamic rituals related to Moharram.In the report Regional Response Plan Iraqi Refugees* 2012 by the UNHCR , states at page 5 pointiv.Many Iraqi refugees continue to show little interest in returning to Iraq. While resettlement willcontinue to be used as protection tool throughout the region, and as a burden-sharing mechanism thatdemonstrate international solidarity with host countries , agencies acknowledge that this solution willgradually diminish as resettlement countries reduce their limited quotas’’
It is obvious that for the mandaeans there are no other choices if the general refugees mixture fromIraq show such reluctance, to the Mandaeans this is rather an obligations taking the details of theirpersecution, and it seems somehow that the 460 refugees who were not allocated to resettlement werenot assessed with consideration their specific belonging to the persecuted minority of theMandaeans.The situation of the refugees in SyriaMost of mandaeans lives in Germanah area within Damascus that area now involved with thesectarian fighting and it is dangerous .The international agencies left the country so they do not knowabout the future of their cases as refugees, in addition to the facts stated above they also will losetheir status as being on the resettlement program if they return to Iraq and that is a very big dilemmato them .The Syrian red crescent closed many of its offices which were serving some needs of the refugees,the UNHCR offices reduced its functions and as for the funds given they are limited and cannot
3 December 13, 2012Pagematch the increase in the prices ,they will give few months funds to the refugees who are capable ofreaching them .The UNHCR In its report Iraq 2012 Regional Response Plan* issued 2011 state page 37An average of 108,500 refugees received regular food rations throughout 2011 .Since September2011 all refugees have received this assistance through the Electronic Voucher System [EVS] whichgradually replaced in-kind food rations.This shows how dependent is the refugee on the support of the agencies for food same apply to thehealth and education as pointed out in the same report ,the disruption of such support is very seriousto the Mandaean refugees .The MHRG records show that in 26/2/2012 there were 2830 individuals lives in Syria all registeredwith the UNHCR as refugees ,Only 460 or so individuals were not allocated resettlement , neithertheir applications were processed. The majority of this group came to Syria since 2010 indicating thecontinuous flow of the refugees from Iraq. That means there are 2380 individuals are on theresettlement program to a third country ,by definition that meant that they are not able to go back toIraq and that they should be travelling to another accepting country . As such it is unbelievable thatthe 460 other individuals will not be allocated to the resettlement program as that does not makelogic since despite that the processing is done on individual cases ,statistically that is puzzling takingin consideration the total number of mandaeans been resettled to other countries since 2003 ,this factneeds an urgent review from all authorities.* Looking at the periodical report of the UNHCR SYRIA * JUNE 2012 The total number ofthe Iraqi refugees registered with the UNHCR Syria is 87,741,so the Mandaeans will make atMay 2012 - 3.2% of the total refugees in Syria at the same time these refugees are making 20% ofthe total population of the community in the middle east . The MHRG really wonder as how the caseof this religious, ethnic minority and as indigenous people of Iraq who were and still subjected toethnic cleansing and genocide were treated by the international community and the UNHCR.All of this despite the continuous efforts of the MHRG and its allies in informing and presenting ourdocumented plight to the international community , the governmental institutes concerned with therefugees and the UN via frequent meetings with the UNHCR offices directly and periodically inGeneva .In Jordan there are around 400 individuals all on the resettlement program and they are waiting ,inYemen there is one family of 6 also on the resettlement program ,some are in other countries.
The UNHCR in its report UNHCR Iraq Operation Monthly Statistical Update on Return – may2012 points out page 3/12 that the distribution of the Iraqi refugees are 59% in Syria and 19% inJordan ,this is a close reflexion of the currant distribution of the refugees within the mandaeancommunity but that balance came only after the deterioration of the security status in Syria as in 2011there were only 30 individual ,in the same report it mentioned that the returnees in 2003 – 2012 were36,640 this will make statistically significant number out of the total number of refugees ,but that wasnot applicable to the mandaeans but exactly the opposite where the number of the new refugees in2010,2011.2012 were on the increase, as such the refugees statistics of the Mandaeans are unique inreflection of persecution and fear due to the cyclical atrocities against them during that period.The Refugee Studies Centre ,Oxford Department of International Development ,University ofOxford in its Workshop report dated 22 March 2012 , Amman titled = Iraqi protracteddisplacement[in association with NRC the Norwegian Refugee Council and IDMC International DisplacementMonitoring Centre ]
4 December 13, 2012Pagestates on page 4According to UNHCR Syria some 42400 Iraqis had their files inactivated since 2011indicating that some refugees are returning without UNHCR assistance. This raises questions aboutthe ‘voluntariness’ of the process.In relation to the Mandaeans that was not applicable even within that context , the MHRG recordsshow that in 5.12.12 the number of the refugees despite the serious conditions in Syria is 1784 afterand during that period 121 were travelled to the USA on the resettlement program , 251 refugeesarrived to other countries like Germany ,Canada ,Australia ,ETC both legally via the resettlementprogram and illegally . 607 of them fled to other countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia andIndonesia, some tried to travel by boats to Australia and many missing with one refugee at Youmorarefugee camp.They are making double refugee status this is the even more dangerous situation for a communityfaced in its struggle to survive.Sub classifications of the status of the refugees as on the 5th– December 2012-12-08----Waiting for USA visa - or travel permission files = 69 total number = 229Refugees who were rejected for resettlementfiles= 136 total number =460Refugees waiting for USA and Australia team interviewfiles=283 total number = 897Refugees accepted to Canada Australia and other countries Files=77 total number 198The same report state page –4Third country resettlement is perceived by many refugees as an uneven, unpredictable andinaccessible process. Many of the traditional resettlement countries are no longer processing largenumbers of claims from Iraqis. In particular the strict US scrutiny process and the ‘Fortress Europe ‘mentality and related policies have resulted in the continuous reduction of resettlement cases [e.g.according to the UNHCR in Syria the number of submissions fell from 60,700 in 2010 to 8,350 in2011]If this is the general situation of the refugees we would imagine that the impact on the Mandaeansrefugees would be reflected with disastrous consequences on their community as per percentage.In its reportUNHCR Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2013Section North Africa and Middle East page 51 states‘’Almost20,000 Iraqi refugees in the resettlement processing pipeline were essentially stranded whendeteriorating diplomatic relations between the Syria Arab Republic and some resettlement countriesresulted in the latter’s inability by to send interviewing selection missions’’
One of the consequences of above on our Mandaean community is also reflected in the report[Refugee Study Centre] on page 7 we read‘What is known already is that given the limited movement opportunities through resettlement ,manyuse illegal migration channels. Opening up traditional migration channels to those who may notbenefit from resettlement could be a safe and sustainable strategy to address situations of prolongedexile on a larger scale’’One must point out that the normal channels to be opened are similar to the P2 priority granted to theIranian Mandaeans in 2004, this may apply to the Iraqi Mandaeans refugees who were not granted theresettlement program.In report dated 5thJune 2012 ,EC/63/SC/CRP.12 – Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’sProgram – standing committee 54thmeeting on page 3 point IV -9- we read‘’The vital role resettlement can play in response to emergency refugee situations was clearlydemonstrated in the context of the Libya crisis in 2011’’
5 December 13, 2012PageThen point 10-‘’In response to the initiative twelve resettlement countries offered some 1,700dedicated resettlement places’’ in the same section ‘’at meeting of the annual tripartite consultationon resettlement ,working group resettlement [ATCR/WGR]IN 2011 UNHCR proposed piloting a poolof emergency resettlement places, to be set aside specifically for large scale emergency resettlementon an annual basis’’,Our point cant the above be applied to the 460 individuals of the Mandaean refugees as this bulk byits self-represent nearly 5% of the total population out of the 20% total percentage of the populationas refugees rejected.Hence many of our refugees while they are waiting for so long many years in many cases they fellvictims to smugglers of all sorts risking their lives some stranded in many African countries somewere arrested in some far Asia countries and some were victims of the famous Australian boats ,somedied and some missing.To our dismay we notice that few Governments are rejecting the asylum applications of manymandaeans refugees despite the fact that they were allocated status of refugees by the UNHCR inSyria and some were on the resettlement program .WE ARE THE WEAKEST GROUPWe ought to point out that the Mandaeans as a community are the weakest group within Iraq andoutside Iraq ,such issues must be taken in consideration this is a practical political and social issuewhile the refugees account for 20% of its population in the middle east the mandaeans are stillsubjected to continues harassment and discrimination and cyclical atrocities ,the refugees in the otherArab countries are by definition refugees who live on the remaining of their savings and the UNHCRhelp . Some minute amount of money comes to the refugees from the community outside thesecountries but it is limited and cannot support many other needs ,the organisations which help in thework in general like the MHRG its self is self-funded time and money by professional volunteershence the limitation of its outreach influence, there is no support what so ever that comes from otherorganization or countries as they are not affiliated to any of them in any form ,the same applies to theMandaean Associations Union (MAU),Conclusions and requests
1- The Situation of Mandaean in Iraq is still very fragile and continuation of the same policies thatled the majority to escape is still unopposed. Continuous pressure on the Iraqi government isneeded to enforce safety and respect of human dignity and religious freedom2- The MHRG hopes that the all concerned must act immediately and very urgently to save theMandaeans refugees in Syria3- The UNHCR ought to arrange for the refugees to be allocated to other places and to be allowed tocontinue processing their resettlement s to other countries from there4- The mandaean refugees who are currently in Syria awaiting final settlement in third countries ofasylum and may have again to relocate mean time to a neighbouring country for safety will bemore assured if the UNHCR issue a written statement to honour and support its promises ofmoving the refugees files with them and insure a continuity of process rather than starting fromthe beginning again.5- The UNHCR can and should ask the regional Governments of Iraq or Kurdistan of Iraq, Jordan,Lebanon and Turkey to support those refugees with all forms of support including the appropriatehousing.6- US, the Australian government and other EU governments should look into urgent processing ofthese cases and using interview centres in Kurdistan or even Baghdad to process these cases.
