Limping and Penniless, Iraqis Deported From Belarus Face Bleak Futures

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Hundreds of desperate Iraqis are being sent home after becoming political pawns in Belarus’s quarrel with its European Union neighbors.

Nazar Shamsaldin on Sunday with some of his family back in Erbil, Iraq, after being deported from Belarus. | Hawre Khalid for The New York Times
ERBIL, Iraq — It was cold in Belarus, bitterly cold, but at least it offered hope, however illusory.

Nazar Shamsaldin was one of thousands of Iraqis who made their way to the Eastern European country in recent months, hoping it would prove a jumping-off point to new lives in the West, only to become pawns in a geopolitical game.

But this weekend he was back in Iraq, sitting on the cold floor of a tiny unfinished concrete house, newly deported from Belarus. Nearby a small boy, one of a dozen children crammed into the house, was trying to warm his hands over a single, battered kerosene heater.

Mr. Shamsaldin, a laborer, and 35 of his relatives had risked everything to travel West. Like many of the hundreds of other Iraqis deported last week, they are now deep in debt and despair. » | Jane Arraf and Sangar Khaleel | Monday, November 22, 2021

Eurabia Alert! EU Urged to Take In More Iraqi Refugees
YAHOO NEWS! (UK & IRELAND): BERLIN - Rights groups called Tuesday on the European Union to take in more refugees from Iraq, two days ahead of a meeting of EU justice and interior ministers in Brussels.

"Iraqi refugees are in urgent need of protection because in contrast to what Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says, the security situation is alarming," Amnesty International Germany's Julia Duchrow told a news conference together with fellow rights group Pro Asyl (For Asylum).

"Periods of reflection, interruptions and playing for time with more research on the ground like the EU plans to do is irresponsible in view of the suffering of refugees," Pro Asyl's Europe representative Karl Kopp said.

Millions of Iraqis have fled their homes since the US-led invasion in 2003, with many heading to neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Syria.

Justice and interior ministers from the 27-nation EU were due to discuss on Thursday and Friday the issue at a meeting in Brussels.

In April the EU's Slovenian presidency rejected German proposals to give priority to refugees from Iraq's Christian minority, saying that asylum should be provided without consideration of religion.

After a meeting with Maliki in July German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed support for Iraqi government plans to see refugees return home rather than have some of them stay in Europe. [Source: YAHOO! NEWS (UK & IRELAND) AFP | September 23, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
Eurabia