Germany revokes refugee status of Iraqis

LONDON, July 10 (UPI) -- Germany is being urged to revoke its move that stripped 18,000 Iraqis of their refugee status.

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch said since November 2003, the German Federal Office for Refugees and Migration has sent letters to 20,000 Iraqi refugees telling them that Germany plans to revoke their status and in fact did so to more than 18,000 of them.

It said the justification was that the political situation in Iraq "has fundamentally changed since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime" and that there are no signs the new Iraqi government will persecute them.

"Saddam Hussein's fall from power hardly means that it is now safe for Iraqi refugees to go home," said Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at HRW. "The government should recognize that persecution and generalized violence continue despite a change of government in Baghdad."

Sectarian violence has increased in Iraq since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam's regime in April 2003, and more than 2 million Iraqis have fled the country since.

"It is simply too early to revoke the refugee status of Iraqis granted asylum in Germany, especially when the situation in Iraq remains so volatile," Frelick said in a statement. "Germany should help relieve the burden of the Iraqi refugee crisis on countries like Jordan and Syria, not add to the problem by stripping Iraqis of their refugee status." He argued that Berlin's revocation is sending the wrong message to Iraq's neighbors, who are hosting close to 2 million refugees.