Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation and Refugee Rights Association have jointly issued a press release and a report cncerning the deportation of Palestinian originated Iraqi refugees in August.

You can find the press release below.

For the report, please click here.

The systematic deportation of the refugees during August 2009, is a serious infringement of Human Rights by the TRNC

Although the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called on all states not to return or expel Iraqi and Palestinian refugees, there has been systematic deportation of 19 refugees from TRNC, including children and families, during the month of August 2009, against all efforts to prevent this happening.
There has been a serious breach of human rights and violation of International Treaties that are part of the domestic law and the Constitution, by deporting the refugees to a place where it was known by the State authorities that they would be subject to conditions of war, torture and division of families.
As the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation and the Refugee Rights Association, even though we have fully explained all these realities to the authorities, and we have been given assurances that these refugees would not be deported, this tragedy could not be averted. Therefore, we would like to share our report that explains the relevant incidents of August 2009 in detail.
Finally, two refugees, that were born and resided in Iraq, carrying Palestine Passports  and  one of whom is a 17 year old minor, were deported on the morning of 5th of September 2009. There is a very high probability that these persons were sent to Iraq or Palestine via a third country. According to reports of United Nations Institutions and Non Governmental Organisations their rights to life and freedom from torture are under threat.
Before this incident we were promised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the refugee matters would be dealt with increased senitivity. However, in this most recent case, against our timely applications to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other State authorities, a deportation decision was taken. Furthermore, our appeals against this decision to various bodies including the judiciary were not able to prevent the deportation of these two people even though one of them was a minor and the decision was contrary to our National Legislation as well as International Human Rights Conventions.
These incidents, the one stated above and others mentioned in our attached report have, unfortunately, already taken place. Our aim is to increase awareness of the authorities and general public in order to prevent human rights violations of refugees in similar situations in the future. We would like to stress that the non-recognition of the TRNC and the continuation of the Cyprus conflict cannot be excuses for not complying with the International Law concerning human rights obligations.

Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation
On behalf of Refugee Rights Association

Emine Erk
7 September 2009