PRM-FUNDED RELOCATION OF AL TASH KURDS TO ERBIL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BAGHDAD 000277 SIPDIS SIPDIS AMMAN FOR REFCOORD CLAIRE KANESHIRO CAIRO FOR REFCOORD GERRY CHEYNE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2016 TAGS: PREF EAID SOCI PHUM PREL IZ IR JO UNHCR PRM SUBJECT: PRM-FUNDED RELOCATION OF AL TASH KURDS TO ERBIL IS A SUCCESS REF: A. 05 STATE 180059 ¶B. 05 BAGHDAD 3918 ¶C. 05 KIRKUK 188 ¶D. 05 AMMAN 6270 ¶E. 05 AMMAN 297 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT S. FORD FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On January 25, RefCoord accompanied UNHCR to Kawa to monitor and evaluate the PRM-funded, UNHCR-implemented relocation site for Iranian Kurds formerly resident in the Al Tash refugee camp near Ramadi in Al Anbar governorate. All but a small percentage of the approximately 3000 Al Tash residents have now left Al Anbar for Kawa or Sulaymianiyah. 1273 Al Tash Kurds relocated to Kawa, where they seem to be settling in well. RefCoord will work with UNHCR on ways to convince the relatively small number of individuals remaining in the Al Tash Camp and the Al Tash Kurds on the Jordanian border to follow their brethren north. Meetings with local government officials discussed septel. END SUMMARY. -------------- BACKGROUND ON AL TASH RELOCATION -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Al Tash Refugee Camp for Iranian Kurds in Al Anbar is no longer viable. Security concerns have undermined provision of adequate humanitarian assistance and protection. The Government of Jordan has been anxious to see the camp moved out of Al Anbar to northern Iraq. Hundreds of refugees from Al Tash have already flooded into Jordan; the GOJ is concerned about future flows (refs D and E). 97 percent of the Al Tash Kurds wanted to go to Sulaymaniyah, to join some 2,000 former Al Tash residents who had previously been relocated. NEA, PRM and UNHCR wanted them settled above the green line so that they would not become pawns to increase Kurdish presence below the green line. Efforts to persuade the Kurdish Regional Government - Sulaymaniyah (KRG-S) to accept the some 3,000 Iranian Kurds left at Al Tash ultimately proved fruitless, but the KRG-Erbil (KRG- E) agreed to relocate 2000 Al Tash Kurds to Erbil and offered an acceptable site above the green line at Kawa (refs B and C). -------------- CONCERNS OF REFUGEE COMMITTEE MEN -------------- ¶3. (C) BETTER THAN ANBAR: UNHCR and RefCoord held separate meetings with the men and women of the Kawa refugee committee. The men characterized Kawa as a vast improvement over Al Tash. One refugee said: "We suffered there -- kidnappings, killings. Here is very different. We suffer only small things." These "small things" included: 1) unemployment, 2) ID issues limiting freedom of movement, and 3) lack of drivers' licenses. The refugees indicated that although there are no restrictions on their movements, the Anbar IDs they have are not always recognized as valid by the local authorities. Police at static check points near Kawa are used to seeing the Anbar IDs, but the mobile police patrols are less familiar with the Anbar IDs and sometimes detain refugees for several hours for investigation. UNHCR undertook to raise the issue of the mobile patrols with the local authorities. ¶4. (C) UNEMPLOYMENT: The refugees said that approximately 25 percent of men 30-35 have found work. Women are not working. One refugee complained, "We came from Anbar, the main area of terrorism, and the people here are suspecting us." He cited the example of a group of day laborers who were going with a contractor into a PUK controlled area. They were told their Ramadi IDs were not valid there and if they tried to enter with them again they would be arrested. ¶5. (C) HEALTH ISSUES: The refugees said health services at the camp are very limited, with a doctor on duty only four to five hours a day. They have basic health care at the camp, but no specialists and no facilities for emergency care. They have no ambulance, and lack drivers' licenses to allow them to transport patients in private vehicles. One refugee said he knew of a refugee BAGHDAD 00000277 002 OF 004 who was arrested for driving without a license while trying to transport a female refugee with appendicitis to the hospital. The driver allegedly paid a large fine to avoid a one-month jail sentence. ¶6. (SBU) DESIRE FOR RESETTLEMENT: The refugees were eager to discuss third country resettlement. They wanted to talk about the details of individual cases which they said had been accepted for resettlement or promised interviews with various countries. They seemed to believe that these cases were still pending. UNHCR informed the refugees that there are no pending cases and that resettlement is not being considered for this population. UNHCR undertook to try and arrange a meeting at another time to discuss individual cases in detail since resettlement can be confusing. ¶7. (SBU) CONCERN ABOUT VULNERABLES: The men were concerned about the most vulnerable individuals at the Kawa site -- the handicapped, orphans, the frail elderly, etc. UNHCR advised them that its NGO partner, Qandil, was compiling information on such cases. UNCHR will formulate a plan for those cases when it receives that information. ¶8. (SBU) LITERACY AND TRANSPORT: The men wanted adult literacy classes for refugees who had not been able to attend school as children. They also wanted bus service from Kawa to Erbil. UNCHR will consider the former and will raise the latter with the local government. ¶9. (C) PREFERRED DURABLE SOLUTIONS OF KAWA RESIDENTS: The men said there are three groups in Kawa: 1) political refugees, 2) those who want to repatriate to Iran, and 3) those who want to locally integrate in Kurdistan. The political refugees want third country resettlement. According to the men, those interested in repatriation would be interested in UNHCR assisted returns and perhaps 75% of the Kawa population want to return to Iran -- but only if the Iranian government is helpful on issues like identity documents, compensation, and jobs for returnees. The men called on UNHCR to approach the Iranians on these issues. The men had heard reports that some Iranian families who had tried to repatriate experienced "all kinds of problems" and have come back to Iraq. ¶10. (C) KURDS ON THE JORDANIAN BORDER: The men said they cannot help convince the 189 at the Jordanian border to move to Kawa, as the group on the border expect to be offered resettlement through the Ruweished Camp in Jordan like the previous group of Al Tash refugees who spontaneously migrated to the No Man's Land between Jordan and Iraq(ref E). The men alleged that said some of the previous group were not registered with UNCHR and did not have protection claims, but were resettled anyway. UNCHR told the men that Jordan is never going to admit the 189 on the border and they will not be resettled from where they are now either. The men indicated that the 189 on the border are stubbornly demanding resettlement because: 1) they have relatives in Europe and elsewhere who are encouraging them and 2) the previous group got access to resettlement through Jordan. -------------- CONCERNS OF REFUGEE COMMITTEE WOMEN -------------- ¶11. (SBU) WHAT THE WOMEN WANT: The women of the refugee committee want training in sewing and in making flat- weave carpets (mahfouth). They want literacy training, with the most interest in Kurdish and English and some interest in Farsi. They want mobile phones. They want courses in first aid, an ambulance, and a female physician on site every day that stays until at least 2 pm. They called for distribution of sanitary napkins, clothing for those over 16, winter clothing, shoes. UNHCR said Qandil was preparing a list of vulnerable individuals for clothing distribution. ¶12. (C) SOCIAL CONDITIONS FOR WOMEN OF KAWA: The women spoke freely about social conditions for female camp residents. Girls left secondary school in Al Anbar for security reasons, but in Kawa more girls attend high school. No Al-Tash girls are in university yet. Women BAGHDAD 00000277 003 OF 004 tend to marry between 15 and 25. Sometimes the marriages are arranged, but the youngest female present said that did not happen in her family because "my parents are educated." If a woman refuses to marry, she is socially ostracized. The women wanted to go on shopping trips without their husbands or male family members. They cannot go alone now for two reasons: 1) The Ramadi ID cards were issued one per family and the male heads of households have the family ID card and 2) Their husbands won't let them go alone. It is socially acceptable for women to go shopping in groups, if they can work out the ID problem. Women and girls who do something to embarrass the family are sometimes beaten. When asked about honor crimes, the women mentioned only one incident from 1999, involving a family whose abused daughter ran off. When they caught her, they shaved her head and humiliated her publicly, and she went crazy. She disappeared and no one knew what had happened to her. -------------- SHELTER AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶13. (U) Permanent housing is planned but has not yet been constructed. Shelter at Kawa camp currently consists of one concrete-floored UNHCR-issued tent per family, plus one or more concrete-block-and-mortar shed-like structures. RefCoord and the UNHCR team visited one of these houses. The facilities were basic, but adequate for their purpose. -------------- WATER AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶14. (U) Water is supplied by a tanker truck which moves through the compound filling individual water storage containers at each family dwelling. -------------- HEALTH AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶15. (U) The health clinic is contained in a large warehouse-type tent. It is divided into several treatment rooms, a pharmacy, a waiting area, and filing area where the refugees' health records are kept. The staff of the medical center told us that there is one male health worker on staff at night on a rotating basis, but there are no doctors at night. The female doctor comes only a few days per week. The facility was clean and appeared well organized, although only minimal services were available on site. -------------- EDUCATION AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶16. (U) The school consists of two more of the warehouse-type tents. One contains the teacher's lounge, the administrative offices, and a few classrooms; the other is entirely classrooms. School was in session during the visit. The children seemed to be learning by rote. The Qandil representative commented that "The Kurdish education system leaves something to be desired." -------------- SANITATION AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶17. (U) Each family dwelling has its own combined shower and Turkish toilet. The one at the dwelling RefCoord and UNHCR visited seemed to be in good condition. -------------- FOOD AND NON-FOOD ITEMS AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶18. (U) The refugees appeared to be eating regularly. A small number of sheep and goats were kept in mud-brick pens at the outskirts of the Kawa settlement. A refugee remarked that the livestock was from Al-Tash, and that the number of animals was at present because the refugees had only recently arrived at Kawa. A few chickens wandered among the tents. Refugees of all ages appeared to have decent-quality clothing appropriate for the BAGHDAD 00000277 004 OF 004 winter chill. Some of the refugees, especially the women and girls and the younger children, wore sandals and socks rather than closed-toed shoes. The other refugees wore sneakers or loafers. All the shoes seemed to be in good repair. The ones wearing sandals were otherwise dressed in a similar manner to those wearing closed-toed shoes, suggesting the sandals may be a cultural preference for ease of removal at the entrance to a dwelling rather than a mark of relative poverty. The refugee dwelling visited by RefCoord and UNHCR appeared to be adequately equipped with essential non-food items such as blankets, plastic sheeting, cooking paraphernalia, and even a bicycle. -------------- UTILITIES AND AMENITIES AT KAWA SITE -------------- ¶19. (U) Power lines were visible throughout the camp. Almost every tent seems to have a satellite dish. Some concrete-block-and-mortar structures under construction are slated to become shops. Overall, the tent encampment looked far more modern, and better equipped, than the mud-brick construction of neighboring Kawa town visible over the berm at the edge of the relocation site. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶20. (C) RefCoord evaluates the Al-Tash relocation to the Kawa site as a success. PRM's funding for the project was only dispersed to UNHCR in late September 2005 (ref A),yet some four months later almost all the refugees have been moved out of harms way in Al Anbar to safety in Erbil. The camp facilities, although basic, are in good repair and generally adequate for the immediate needs of the population until permanent housing can be built. RefCoord will continue to work with UNHCR on ways to persuade the remaining Kurds in the Al-Tash camp and at the Jordanian border to follow their brethren North to Kawa. KHALILZAD