UN officials urge relocation of MKO members outside Iraq

Senior United Nations officials on Friday stressed the need to redouble efforts to resettle residents of a camp of an anti-Iranian terrorist organization near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which was the scene of recent attacks, and to find durable solutions for them outside of Iraq, according to UN News Centre.

Camp Liberty, which houses more than 3,000 exiles, most of them members of a group known as the Mojahedin Khalq, was attacked on February 9 while most of the residents were sleeping. Six people were reportedly killed and several injured.

The camp is serving as a transit facility for the exiles while the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) carries out a process to determine their refugee status.

At a meeting in Geneva on Friday, the High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, and the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler, discussed the process of resettling the residents of the camp to third countries and voiced their concern about their safety and security.

“After the despicable attacks on Camp Liberty on 9 February, it is particularly important that we redouble our efforts to resettle the residents and find durable solutions for them outside Iraq as quickly as possible,” said Kobler.

He noted that, under the memorandum of understanding of December 25, 2011, the government of Iraq is responsible for the security and safety of the residents.

Kobler also thanked Guterres for the efforts of the UNHCR and assured him that the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which he heads, will continue to support the agency to bring about a quick resettlement of the residents to third countries.

TehranTimes