Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BERLIN507
2008-04-23 08:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Berlin
Cable title:
GERMANY CONSIDERS OPENING DOORS TO IRAQI CHRISTIAN
how-toVZCZCXRO5408 RR RUEHBW RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHRL #0507 1140854 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 230854Z APR 08 FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0980 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0215 RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0099 RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000507
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018
TAGS: GM MARR MOPS NATO PREL IQ EUN PHUM PREF
SUBJECT: GERMANY CONSIDERS OPENING DOORS TO IRAQI CHRISTIAN
REFUGEES
REF: BERLIN 421
Classified By: DEPUTY POLITICAL COUNSELOR STAN OTTO. REASONS: 1.4 (B) A
ND (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000507
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018
TAGS: GM MARR MOPS NATO PREL IQ EUN PHUM PREF
SUBJECT: GERMANY CONSIDERS OPENING DOORS TO IRAQI CHRISTIAN
REFUGEES
REF: BERLIN 421
Classified By: DEPUTY POLITICAL COUNSELOR STAN OTTO. REASONS: 1.4 (B) A
ND (D).
1. (C) In the past several weeks, German politicians have
begun a serious debate to allow up to 30,000 Iraqi Christian
or other religious minorities to resettle in Germany, with
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (CDU) pressing
the hardest for swift action. On April 17, 2008, the state
interior ministers of Germany's 17 states discussed a plan to
resettle up to 30,000 Iraqi Christian refugees to Germany and
agreed in principle to accepting the refugees. The plan,
which Schaeuble has been championing, envisions three sets of
10,000 refugees arriving in Germany annually over the next
three years. The persons would be permanently integrated in
Germany and would not be required to petition for political
asylum. These settlers would be processed as contingency
refugees (Kontingentfluechtlinge) by the German Federal
Office for Migration and Refugees.
2. (C) The Bundestag (Parliament) Committee on Human Rights
has also appealed to the German government to let more Iraqi
refugees enter the country. Committee Chairwoman Herthe
Daeubler Gmelin (SPD) said at a recent hearing that "Germany
must share its part of the burden." According to Christoph
Ehrentraut of the Ministry of Interior's Refugee Department,
over 72,000 Iraqi citizens have spent "some" time in Germany,
with 5,760 Iraqis entering Germany under refugee status
during 2007. MFA Iraq desk chief Dr. Ruediger Lotz noted
that nearly 2 million Iraqi refugees are currently living in
either Jordan or Syria. As a result, the MFA recently
increased its assistance to these refugees to 3.7 million
Euros for 2008 (Reftel). Lotz continued that nearly
two-thirds of all Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq since the
fall of Hussein's government and the concurrent rise in
Islamic fundamentalism. Still, he notes, the MFA is urging
that the new category incorporate all "religious minorities
persecuted in Iraq" and not just Christians. Lotz believes
this would broaden the appeal of the overall plan.
3. (C) The EU, however, seems reluctant to follow suit with a
religion-based refugee category. While Schaeuble may have
hoped for a more positive response from his EU colleagues,
the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Committee meeting on
April 18 in Luxembourg yielded little movement. The
Slovenian Presidency made it clear that EU decisions in the
area of asylum could not be based on religion. According to
Ehrentraut, Germany will continue to raise this issue in the
hope that agreement can be reached at the next JHA meeting in
May.
TIMKEN JR
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018
TAGS: GM MARR MOPS NATO PREL IQ EUN PHUM PREF
SUBJECT: GERMANY CONSIDERS OPENING DOORS TO IRAQI CHRISTIAN
REFUGEES
REF: BERLIN 421
Classified By: DEPUTY POLITICAL COUNSELOR STAN OTTO. REASONS: 1.4 (B) A
ND (D).
1. (C) In the past several weeks, German politicians have
begun a serious debate to allow up to 30,000 Iraqi Christian
or other religious minorities to resettle in Germany, with
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (CDU) pressing
the hardest for swift action. On April 17, 2008, the state
interior ministers of Germany's 17 states discussed a plan to
resettle up to 30,000 Iraqi Christian refugees to Germany and
agreed in principle to accepting the refugees. The plan,
which Schaeuble has been championing, envisions three sets of
10,000 refugees arriving in Germany annually over the next
three years. The persons would be permanently integrated in
Germany and would not be required to petition for political
asylum. These settlers would be processed as contingency
refugees (Kontingentfluechtlinge) by the German Federal
Office for Migration and Refugees.
2. (C) The Bundestag (Parliament) Committee on Human Rights
has also appealed to the German government to let more Iraqi
refugees enter the country. Committee Chairwoman Herthe
Daeubler Gmelin (SPD) said at a recent hearing that "Germany
must share its part of the burden." According to Christoph
Ehrentraut of the Ministry of Interior's Refugee Department,
over 72,000 Iraqi citizens have spent "some" time in Germany,
with 5,760 Iraqis entering Germany under refugee status
during 2007. MFA Iraq desk chief Dr. Ruediger Lotz noted
that nearly 2 million Iraqi refugees are currently living in
either Jordan or Syria. As a result, the MFA recently
increased its assistance to these refugees to 3.7 million
Euros for 2008 (Reftel). Lotz continued that nearly
two-thirds of all Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq since the
fall of Hussein's government and the concurrent rise in
Islamic fundamentalism. Still, he notes, the MFA is urging
that the new category incorporate all "religious minorities
persecuted in Iraq" and not just Christians. Lotz believes
this would broaden the appeal of the overall plan.
3. (C) The EU, however, seems reluctant to follow suit with a
religion-based refugee category. While Schaeuble may have
hoped for a more positive response from his EU colleagues,
the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Committee meeting on
April 18 in Luxembourg yielded little movement. The
Slovenian Presidency made it clear that EU decisions in the
area of asylum could not be based on religion. According to
Ehrentraut, Germany will continue to raise this issue in the
hope that agreement can be reached at the next JHA meeting in
May.
TIMKEN JR