Motion for a resolution | Doc. 11716 | 23 September 2008

The protection of Camp Ashraf residents

Signatories: Mr Mike HANCOCK, United Kingdom, ALDE ; Mr Miloš ALIGRUDIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Ms Meritxell BATET, Spain, SOC ; Mr Luc Van den BRANDE, Belgium, EPP/CD ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Mátyás EÖRSI, Hungary, ALDE ; Mr Dario RIVOLTA, Italy ; Mr Oliver SAMBEVSKI, ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'' ; Mr Leonid SLUTSKY, Russian Federation, SOC ; Mr Christoph STRÄSSER, Germany, SOC ; Ms Karin S. WOLDSETH, Norway

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Taking into consideration:

• Concerns expressed by Amnesty International (28 August 2008 public statement), the European Parliament (4 September 2008 Resolution), and the International Federation of Human Rights (8 September 2008 statement) regarding the urgent threats posed to the lives and security of 3500 Iranian political refugees, including 1000 women, in Camp Ashraf in Iraq who are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention;
• Declarations of the relevant international bodies and US officials who have been protecting Ashraf since 2003 that Ashraf residents fall within the framework of the principle of non-refoulement and protection under the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Law (IL);
• Reports that the protection of Ashraf residents would be transferred from the US-led Multinational Force – Iraq (MNF-I) to Iraqi forces;
• That handing over Ashraf's protection to iraqi forces will result in an increase of pressure on the Iraqi government by the Iranian regime to put pressure, expel or event extradite Ashraf residents (members of the PMOI), and give the Iranian regime a free hand to increase its terrorist and military attacks, on Camp Ashraf;
• That residents of Ashraf, many of whom spent many years in the Iranian regime's prisons, are sought after by the regime and would face torture and execution if returned to Iran,

The Assembly concludes:

Transferred protection of Ashraf residents under the present circumstances violates the principle of non-refoulement, the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Refugee Convention, the Convention against Torture and more generally International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Law (IL) and paves the way for a humanitarian catastrophe, thus it urges US forces for as long as they remain in Iraq to continue to protect Ashraf residents and uphold their judicial protection in the framework of international law.