Iraqi Refugee Arrivals Proceeding: 866 of 2500

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 000918

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State for EUR/CE, EUR/PGI, NEA, PRM

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TAGS: PREF PGOV PREL PHUM IOM UNHCR IZ JO SY GM

SUBJECT: Iraqi Refugee Arrivals Proceeding: 866 of 2500
Settled to Date


1. (U) Summary: A total of 866 Iraqi refugees have arrived of
the 2500 that Germany agreed to resettle under the terms of
last year's European Union agreement. This is the first time
that Germany has worked with the UNHCR to permanently resettle
refugees directly from overseas. Iraqi refugee selections are
based on need for protection and it is expected to take until
the end of the year before all 2500 have arrived. Germany-
based representatives of the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) hope that this experience will result in the
German government accepting more refugees in the future. End
summary



2. (U) In November 2008, the EU Member State Justice and Home
Affairs Ministers agreed to resettle 10,000 Iraqi refugees who
have fled to Syria and Jordan. German Interior Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble was a motivating force in the EU for the
decision to accept the refugees. With 2500 (2000 from Syria
and 500 from Jordan),Germany is resettling the most refugees
of any EU member state, followed by France with 1,800. Nasim
Faruk, the deputy head of IOM's program in Germany, discussed
the refugee resettlement program with EconOffs.


Eligibility Criteria
--------------


3. (SBU) Although Schaeuble initially suggested that
preference would be given to accepting Christian refugees this
has not turned out to be the case. MoI desk officer Arndt
Sartorius (Directorate for Migration, Refugees, Integration,
European Harmonization),indicated that the idea that the
refugees be primarily Christian originated from
representatives of (Protestant) churches and Schaeuble had
repeated this suggestion to make the issue more saleable
domestically. In actual practice, all refugees are selected
based on their need for protection though many are, in fact,
Christian.



4. (U) The refugees are drawn from a camp in Amman, Jordan and
another camp outside Damascus, Syria. Officials from the
Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) work together
with representatives of UNHCR and IOM to identify potential
candidates for resettlement in Germany. Germany's policy is
to give resettlement preference to particularly vulnerable
refugee populations that have no prospect of returning to Iraq
safely and who also lack any opportunity for integration in
Syria or Jordan. These include members of persecuted
(religious) minorities in Iraq, people who require specific
medical help and single women with responsibility for caring
for family members. Other selection criteria that are taken
into consideration are integration skills (e.g., school and
vocational training, professional experience and language
skills),ensuring the unity of the family, and connections to
Germany that can assist in integration.



5. (SBU) Resettlement candidates undergo security background
screening and there are a number of criteria for exclusion
based on past behavior. Individuals who played a significant
role in maintaining the previous regime; individuals convicted
of crimes that are regarded as premeditated offenses in
Germany; and those with connections to criminal organizations
or terrorist associations are excluded from the admission
process. In some instances, the security screening has caused
delays in admissions processing as individuals lack
appropriate documentation and verifying information/police
records is a lengthy process.


Refugee Processing
--------------


6. (U) In Syria, IOM makes initial contact with potential
resettlement candidates and organizes their medical checks in
the refugee camps in cooperation with UNHCR and
representatives of German agencies on site. UNHCR conducts
pre-selection interviews from which German officials base
their assessment of eligibility. IOM also organizes the

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charter flights taking the refugees to Germany. The flights
take refugees to Hannover for two weeks of in-processing at a
central site in the nearby town of Friedland, Lower Saxony.
During the in-processing, decisions are made concerning each
refugee's settlement location. All sixteen of Germany's
federal states are required to resettle a portion of the 2500
quota based on the size of the state. However, IOM's Faruk
indicated that the sparsely populated state of Mecklenburg-
Vorpommern has asked if they can pay to have their allotment
relocated elsewhere in Germany.



7. (U) Many of the 866 refugees that have arrived to date
belong to families with existing contacts or relatives in
Germany. The majority of the 866 refugees belong to
persecuted minorities, including Christians (477),Mandaeans
and Yezidi. A small number were in need of medical
assistance. Refugees receive free housing, language training,
job placement assistance and a monthly stipend that is
slightly higher than the usual amount for asylum seekers. The
refugees are issued residence permits that entitle them to
seek employment. Civil society groups provide continued
integration assistance once the refugees have moved to their
permanent residences.


Prospects for the Future
--------------


8. (U) IOM's Faruk hopes that if German political leaders view
the resettlement of the 2500 Iraqis as a success, they will
consider accepting more refugees from Iraq and other
countries.. Along these lines, MoI's Sartorius mentioned
ongoing discussions among EU member states on the creation of
an EU solution to the problem of African migrants landing on
the shores of Greece, Malta, Italy and other Mediterranean
countries. However, earlier this month Minister Schaeuble
stated that Germany was still burdened by the resettlement of
Balkan refugees from the 1990s and he rejected a binding EU
agreement to allocate African refugees among member states.
Schaeuble argues for a voluntary model. However, Faruk does
not view this as the last word on this matter and noted the
extensive political debate that occurred prior to agreement on
the Iraqi refugee program. Faruk added that the German
Embassy in Malta recently announced Germany's decision to
resettle 14 Eritrean refugees stranded in Malta and held this
as an example of Germany's willingness to continue refugee
processing.


BRADTKE