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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal >> NS (Iraq: perceived collaborator: relocation) Iraq CG [2007] UKAIT 00046 (12 April 2007) URL: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2007/00046.html Cite as: [2007] UKAIT 00046, [2007] UKAIT 46 |
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NS (Iraq: perceived collaborator: relocation) Iraq CG [2007] UKAIT 00046
Date of hearing: 16 October 2006
Date Determination notified: 12 April 2007
NS |
APPELLANT |
and |
|
Secretary of State for the Home Department | RESPONDENT |
For the Appellant: Mr A Bandegani of the Refugee Legal Centre
For the Respondent: Mr J Jones, Home Office Presenting Officer
1. An Iraqi who is perceived as a collaborator as a consequence of his work for the UN, an NGO, the Multi-National Force, the Coalition Provisional Authority or a foreign contractor, and who has attracted the hostility of an armed group, faces a real risk of persecution on return to his home area.
2. Ability to relocate in Iraq to an area other than the KRG for such a person would depend on the circumstances of the case, including such matters as the reach of the group which has targeted him.
3. Relocation to the KRG for any Iraqi is in general only feasible if the person concerned would be allowed to enter and legally reside in the area of relocation, and has family, community and/or political links there enabling them to survive.
4. LM Iraq CG [2006] UKAIT 00060 (guidance on Christian women perceived as collaborators and internal relocation to KRG) is here considered and extended. The guidance in RA (Christians) Iraq CG [2005] UKIAT 00091 remains for the time being valid in cases concerning Christians with no other distinguishing profile.
DETERMINATION AND REASONS
THE APPELLANT'S EVIDENCE
SUBMISSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
The Refugee or Person in Need of International Protection (Qualification) Regulations S12006/2525 (hereafter the "Protection Regulations"), together with the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, Cmnd 6918 (hereafter "the Cm 6918 Rules"), which in part implement EU Council Directive 2004/93/EC on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, came into force on 9 October 2006.
The Protection Regulations set out, inter alia, definitions of acts of persecution (Regulation 5), actors of persecution or serious harm (Regulation 3) and actors of protection (Regulation 4). Regulation 4 in its material parts states:
"1) In deciding whether a person is a refugee or a person eligible for humanitarian protection, protection from persecution or serious harm can be provided by:
(a) the State; or
(b) any party or organisation, including any international organisation, controlling the State or a substantial part of the territory of the State.
(2) Protection shall be regarded as generally provided when the actors mentioned in paragraph 1(a) and (b) take reasonable steps to prevent the persecution or suffering of serious harm by operating an effective legal system for the detection, prosecution and punishment of acts constituting persecution or serious harm, and the person mentioned in paragraph (1) has access to such protection.
…"
The amended Immigration Rules (Cm6918) contain among other provisions, paragraph 339K, which deals with the approach to past persecution in the following terms:
"339K. The fact that a person has already been subject to persecution or serious harm, or to direct threats of such persecution or such harm, will be regarded as a serious indication of the person's well-founded fear of persecution or real risk of suffering serious harm, unless there are good reasons to consider that such persecution or serious harm will not be repeated".
Also pertinent to this appeal is paragraph 339O headed "Internal Relocation". This states:
"(i) The Secretary of State will not make:
(a) a grant of asylum if in part of the country of origin a person would not have a well founded fear of being persecuted, and the person can reasonably be expected to stay in that part of the country; or
(b) a grant of humanitarian protection if in part of the country of return a person would not face a real risk of suffering serious harm, and the person can reasonably be expected to stay in that part of the country.
(ii) In examining whether a part of the country of origin or country of return meets the requirements in (i) the Secretary of State, when making his decision on whether to grant asylum or humanitarian protection, will have regard to the general circumstances prevailing in that part of the country and to the personal circumstances of the person.
(iii) (i) applies notwithstanding technical obstacles to return to the country of origin or country of return".
In considering the proper approach to the issue of internal relocation we have also to apply the principles set out in the House of Lords judgment in Januzi [2006] UKHL 5 which adopts the criteria now contained in paragraph 339O but also contains more detailed guidance.
The new Regulations and Rules also identify the right of a person to be considered as to his or her eligibility for humanitarian protection. Paragraph 339C (in its first part) provides:
"A person will be granted humanitarian protection in the United Kingdom if the Secretary of State is satisfied that
(i) he is in the United Kingdom or has arrived at a port of entry in the United Kingdom;
(ii) he does not qualify as a refugee as defined in regulation 2 of the The Refugee or Person in Need of International Protection (Qualification) Regulations 2006;
(iii) substantial grounds have been shown for believing that the person concerned, if he returned to the country of return, would face a real risk of suffering serious harm and is unable, or, owing to such risk, unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; and
(iv) he is not excluded from a grant of humanitarian protection".
The same paragraph in its second part gives a definition of serious harm:
"Serious harm consists of:
(i) the death penalty or execution;
(ii) unlawful killing;
(iii) torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of a person in the country of return; or
(iv) serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict".
Where below we refer to "risk" or "real risk", this is to be understood as an abbreviated way of identifying respectively: (1) whether on return there is a well-founded fear of being persecuted under the Refugee Convention; (2) whether on return there are substantial grounds for believing that a person would face a real risk of suffering serious harm within the meaning of paragraph 339C of the amended Immigration Rules; and (3) whether on return there are substantial grounds for believing that a person would face a real risk of being exposed to a real risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 ECHR.
THE CURRENT SITUATION IN IRAQ
Signed Date
Senior Immigration Judge Allen
UNHCR Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Iraqi Asylum Seekers: October 2005
Home Office Operational Guidance Note on Iraq: 12 January 2006
International Crisis Group Report: 15 February 2006
UNAMI (UN Assistance Mission for Iraq) Human Rights Report: 1 March – 30 April 2006
United Nations Security Council Report: 3 March 2006
US State Department Report: 8 March 2006
Home Office Country of Origin Information Report: April 2006
Expert Report of Dr Rebwar Fatah: 19 May 2006