UN agency to transfer Iranian Kurd refugees in Iraq to more secure camp

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today announced plans to transfer some 2,000 Iranian Kurdish refugees from an insecure camp in central Iraq to a more stable location in the north.

The serious incidents at Al Tash camp near Ramadi, including armed men in the vicinity of the camp, three refugee deaths, two kidnappings, frequent water shortages and interrupted electricity, have made life extremely difficult for the refugees and has also made visits by aid agencies to the camp extremely sporadic due to its insecure status, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Ron Redmond told a press briefing in Geneva.

Many of the Iranian-Kurd refugees will be relocated to the Kawa site in the Erbil Governorate, which will have water, sanitation, electricity, schools and health care facilities, until a more permanent camp site is constructed.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein, thousands of Iranian Kurds who were living in the Al Tash camp for more than 20 years following the Islamic revolution in Iran decided to leave of their own accord, and the 2,000 still there are the last remaining occupants. Some of those who left moved to the Sulaymaniyah region with relocation assistance from local authorities, UNHCR and others.