The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) protested the Iraqi Army’s attempt to surround the Makhmour (Mexmûr) Refugee Camp on Saturday morning, and called on United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grande to intervene and halt the Iraqi Army’s aggression with the deployment of armoured vehicles and wire fences, triggering resistance from the camp’s residents.
Urgent Call to UNHCR to stop Iraqi Army’s aggression against the Kurdish refugees in Makhmour
“This morning the Iraqi Armed Forces surrounded the UNHCR Makhmour (Mexmûr) Refugee Camp with tens of armoured vehicles, special forces and police personnel, and barbed wire fences,” the statement read. The KNK highlighted the vulnerability of the Makhmour Camp residents who were forced from their homes in North Kurdistan (Turkey) over two decades ago, and continue to be “forced to endure new threats and challenges”.
“The agency’s silence and inaction following threats and attacks against the camp show it to be more aligned with the ruling parties of the region than with its stated mission of saving the lives and protecting the rights of refugees,” the KNK stated, expressing disappointment in UNHCR’s lack of action.
The KNK called upon UNHCR to utilise its diplomatic and political means to protect the Kurdish refugees, stating, “UNHCR has the responsibility… to stop Iraq from violating the rights of the Mexmur refugees and must intervene immediately to save the lives of people whose homes in exile have now been surrounded by the Iraqi Armed Forces.”
The KNK emphasised the urgency of UNHCR to “immediately intervene to protect the people of the Mexmur Camp” in order to “prevent any escalation that could endanger the lives of thousands of refugees.”