Protection of Refugees under International Law: The Case of Iraqi Kurdistan Region Refugees

Sanh Shareef Qader; Nishtiman Othman Mohammed

doi:10.25212/lfu.qzj.5.1.09

المؤلفون

Sanh Shareef Qader Lecturer, Department of Law, Faculty of law, Political Sciences and Management, Soran University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Nishtiman Othman Mohammed Department of Law, Faculty of law, Political Sciences and Management, Soran University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25212/lfu.qzj.5.1.09

الكلمات المفتاحية:

Refugeehood, International law, Kurdistan Regional Government, Refugees’ rights, Iraq Federal Government

الملخص

Refugeehood is a state that does not only occur due to political matters. It is a state that can come about as a result of natural disasters – famine, earthquakes, drought and flood. International law principles safeguard the protection of refugees as stated in the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, as well as in other international and regional instruments. The rights of refugees mainly includes non-refoulement, no penalties on the illegal entry of refugees, right to life, right of physical security, life necessities, right of family unity, education, access to justice, employment, and other fundamental freedoms. This paper aims to examine the living situation of refugees in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and whether their rights are provided by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). This paper will also look at whether the financial aid of KRG corresponds with international law standards for protecting the refugees rights. This paper focused on secondary sources to analyze various opinions and come to conclusions. The study found that refugees’ rights have international legal protection and that states and governments have a responsibility to respect those rights. The findings also showed that the aid provided by the KRG corresponds to international law principles.

التنزيلات

بيانات التنزيل غير متوفرة بعد.

المراجع

• Abu Sa’Da, Caroline & Serafini, Micaela. (2013).Humanitarian and medical challenges of assisting new refugees in Lebanon and Iraq. FMR, 44. https://www.fmreview.org/detention/abusada-serafin.

• Ad Hoc Committee on Statelessness and Related Problems, Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons - Memorandum by the Secretary-Genera.( 3 January 1950). Retrieved fromhttps://www.unhcr.org/en-my/protection/statelessness/3ae68c280/ad-hoc-committee-statelessness-related-problems-status-refugees-stateless.html.

• Amin, Diyar. (2017, May29). Kurdistan Region- Heaven for Refugees. Retrieved from https://www.vocaleurope.eu/iraqi-kurdistan-heaven-refugees.

• Analysis: The Syrian urban refugee problem in northern Iraq. (24 Jul 2013). Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/analysis-syrian-urban-refugee-problem-northern-iraq.

• Asylum & the Rights of Refugees,( n.d.). Retrieved from https://ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/

• Asylum Insight. (2016, November). The Refugee Convention. Retrieved from https://www.asyluminsight.com/refugees-convention#.XUsQgugzbIX

• Barzani Charity Foundation.(2006). Humanitarian Activities. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/NOZ18ZEn.pdf.

• Burton, E. B. (1987). Leasing Rights: A New International Instrument for Protecting Refugees and Compensating Host Countries. Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev., 19(1), 307. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/colhr19&div=15&id=&page=.

• Emirates News Agency. (2019). 75,000 refugees in Kurdish region of Iraq benefit from ERC winter aid appeal. Retrieved from http://wam.ae/en/details/139530273937.

• Hasan Hama, Hawre. (2017, January 30). Do the people of Kurdistan live in security?. OpenDemocracy. Retrieved from https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/do-people-of-kurdistan-live-in-security/.

• Human Rights and Refugees. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/4794773f0.html .

• Human Rights Education Associates (HREA). (2003).Study Guide: The Rights of Refugees. http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/studyguides/refugees.htm#ii.

• International Instruments. (2004). Refugee Survey Quarterly, 23(2), 361–364. Retrieved from http://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/23.2.361.

• Jayawickrama, N. (2002). The judicial application of human rights law: national, regional and international jurisprudence. Cambridge university press.

• Kurdistan Regional Government. (14 August 2019). Challenges Facing the KRG in Hosting Refugees. Retrieved from http://previous.cabinet.gov.krd/p/page.aspx?l=12&s=000000&r=401&p=482&h=1&t=407

• Kurdistan Regional Government. (2018). KRG hosts 40% of all IDPs and 97% Syrian refugees in Iraq. Retrieved from http://jcc.gov.krd/en/article/read/56.

• Kurds & the Refugee Crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://thekurdishproject.org/infographics/kurds-and-the-refugee-crisis/.

• Lambert, H. (Ed.). (2017). International refugee law. Routledge .

• Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons - Advisory Opinion of 8 July 1996. International Court of Justice. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20171018153630/http://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/95.

• Locke, J. (2014). Second treatise of government: An essay concerning the true original, extent and end of civil government. John Wiley & Sons.

• Lofchie, Michael F. (1975). Political and Economic Origins of African Hunger. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 13(4), 551-567. https://www.jstor.org/stable/160237.

• McCarthy, Justin (1995). Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821–1922. Darwin Press.

• Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts.( 4 March 2016). BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911 .

• Migration Policy Centre. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/profile-iraq/ .

• Mustafa Saaid, Hayder.(2016,June). Syrian Refugees and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. LSE Middle East Centre, 1. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/79381/1/blogs.lse.ac.uk-Syrian%20Refugees%20and%20the%20Kurdistan%20Region%20of%20Iraq.pdf.

• Nicholson, Frances & Kumin, Judith. (2017). A guide to international refugee protection and building state asylum systems. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/publications/legal/3d4aba564/refugee-protection-guide-international-refugee-law-handbook-parliamentarians.html.

• O’Sullivan, M. (2019). Refugee Law and Durability of Protection: Temporary Residence and Cessation of Status. Routledge.

• Refugees Operational Portal of UNHCR.(2019). Syria Regional Refugees Response. Retrieved from https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria/location/5.

• Sen, A. (1982). Poverty and famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford university press.

• Shacknove, Andrew E. (1985). Who Is a Refugee?. Ethics, 95(2), 274. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2380340?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents .

• Shue, H. (1996). Basic rights: Subsistence, affluence, and US foreign policy. Princeton University Press.

• Sieghart, P. (1983). The international law of human rights. Oxford University Press.

• Stepan, A. C. (2015). The state and society: Peru in comparative perspective. Princeton University Press.

• The refugee concept under international law.( 12-15 March 2018). Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/5aa290937.pdf.

• UN General Assembly, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, p. 137, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3be01b964.html.

• UN Women’s and other international and national agencies. (2014). We just keep silent: Gender-based violence amongst Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Retrieved fromhttps://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/We_Just_Keep_Silent_final_English.pdf.

• UNHCR. (2001). The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8922/2b164cbdcdc0663ecce9997fd33812aea9 1.pdf .

• United Nations.(1995). Families in exile: reflections from the experience of UNHCR. Retrieved from https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3078532.

• Weis, P. (1961). The concept of the refugee in international law. UNHCR.

• What is the 1967 Protocol relating to Refugees?.(8 October 2018). Retrieved from https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/1967-protocol.

• Williams, H. (1990). Families in Refugee Camps. Human Organization, 49(2), 103. http://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.49.2.r2614223v222l7x5.

• Williams, Sally. (2014, November 29). Inside the refugee camps of northern Iraq. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11260461/Exclusive-Inside-the-refugee-camps-of-northern-Iraq.html.