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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal >> NH (Iraq, Yazidis) Iraq [2004] UKIAT 00306 (25 November 2004) URL: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2004/00306.html Cite as: [2004] UKIAT 00306, [2004] UKIAT 306 |
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NH (
Iraq
– Yazidis)
Iraq
[2004] UKIAT 00306
Date of hearing: 5 November 2004
Date Determination notified: 25 November 2004
| NH | APPELLANT |
| and | |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department | RESPONDENT |
Iraq
who appeals to the Tribunal with permission against the determination of an Adjudicator, Mrs J N Reid, in which she dismissed his appeal against the Secretary of State's decision of 29 December 2003 issuing directions for his removal from the United Kingdom, asylum having been refused.
Iraq
because of his connection to the liquor store although it might be that the family business was the victim of a criminal attack, nor did she accept that he was at risk of persecution on return on account of having sold alcohol previously. Nor did she accept that there was nowhere he could go in
Iraq
to practise his faith. She gave consideration to an expert report from Dr K Rashidian and other aspects of the documentary evidence concerning Yazidis and the situation in
Iraq
generally, and concluded that he was not at risk on return.
Iraq
for a Yazidi such as the Appellant.
Iraq
, and there was reference to an incident which was blamed on water pollution in March 2004 which had led many inhabitants of the villages to believe that they had been deliberately poisoned because of their religion. Their faith was not accorded the same respect by Muslims as was the case for Christians and Jews.
Iraq
to be found in the Country Report, in particular at paragraphs 6.42 to 6.54 and 6.55 was indicative of the kind of risk that the Yazidis might well face. As regards the failure to get a seat on the governing council, it seemed that the Yazidis were being subsumed into the Kurds who claimed to represent them. They faced the problems of a small religious minority whose religion was misunderstood. Mr French was instructed to seek remittal of the appeal.
Iraq
, and there was little evidence of risk. The poisoning of the well appeared to be a case of contamination.
Iraq
, with many living near Mosul, and that the community faces a struggle to maintain and develop its place in
Iraq
, and is the object of a power struggle between the Arabs and the Kurds. She went on to conclude that there was nothing to indicate that the Appellant is an individual who would be at risk on return to
Iraq
by reason of his religion or that he would be unable to practise his religion.
Iraq
. There is a specific section on the Yazidis at paragraphs 6.59 to 6.64 of the
Iraq
Country Report of October 2004. They are described as a syncretistic religious group or a set of several groups, many of whom consider themselves to be ethnically Kurdish, although some would define themselves as both religiously and ethnically distinct from Muslim Kurds. The Yazidis predominantly reside in the north of
Iraq
. There is a reference to an article in The Times of 5 June 2003 referring to the Yazidis' religion being one of the more secretive and persecuted religions. We have considered the article in the St. Petersburg Times headed "In
Iraq
, ancient sect quietly lives on faith", which provides some useful information on the Yazidis. They are described as one of the world's oldest and most unusual religions. Estimated numbers of the Yazidis range from less than 100,000 to 600,000. We see from this report that the Yazidis have won a seat on the town council in Mosul though, as Mr French pointed out, it is not known how many seats there are and therefore how representative that in fact is. It is said to be the case that even in the north they are so worried about extremist attacks that they cancelled most of their traditional springtime celebrations this year. They are clearly concerned about Islamic parties and the fact that they have experienced a good deal of religious persecution throughout their history. Though they have been referred to as "devil worshippers", it seems that they have no devil in their religion and it is unclear why they have been so described. It is claimed that as part of his Arabisation programme, Saddam Hussein drove Yazidis and other Kurds from their villages and replaced them with Arabs. Most Yazidis remained in
Iraq
, where they were forced from their villages into crowded, squalid compounds, denied national identity cards, forbidden to write about their religion and barred from holding government jobs. Many Yazidi men were conscripted into the army and sent to the front line during the Iran-
Iraq
war. It seems, however, that after 1991 hundreds of Yazidis got jobs in the Kurdistan government.
Iraq
and, given their lack of any stake in power, their problems remain. It seems that the Kurds announced that the Yazidis were Kurds and should be represented by them and hence they do not have representation on the governing council.
Iraq
, such as the Christians (examples at paragraph 6.54 of the Country Report) and Mandaeans/Sabians (example at paragraph 6.58 of the Country Report) face. It is the case however, as Mr Avery pointed out, the majority of the Yazidis live in the Kurdish controlled areas where law and order is generally better than elsewhere in
Iraq
. In essence, we have concluded that the inference that Mr French invited us to draw from the historical problems of the Yazidis and the more recent problems of other minorities is not an inference that can properly be drawn from the evidence. No doubt, as a relatively small minority in
Iraq
and one which has historically experienced problems from others, the Yazidis are vulnerable, but in our view that does not equate to a real risk of persecution or breach of the human rights of the Appellant before us as of today. The evidence does not in our view show that there is a risk of anything more than the generalised risks that exist at present to almost anyone in
Iraq, and that in our view is not such as to give rise to a real risk of persecution or breach of the Appellant's human rights. Accordingly, even if we are wrong in our view that there is no error of law in the Adjudicator's determination, we consider that the evidence does not show a real risk for this Appellant.
D K ALLEN
VICE PRESIDENT