Lord Turnberg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts they have made to allow endangered refugees in Camp Liberty to come to the UK.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

In 2011 the Government of Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq which allowed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to make assessments on applications made by the residents for relocation. The UNHCR assessment process is underway, and a number of residents have now been relocated to third countries.

The UK has re-admitted four individuals from Camp Ashraf who hold valid UK travel documents. The Home Office exceptionally agreed to consider whether 52 residents of Camp Liberty previously settled in the UK, but who left many years ago, should be readmitted. Seventeen residents approved for resettlement in the UK by the Home Office are now in the UK. The UNHCR has also referred 35 further residents and a decision from the Home Office is pending.