On February 17, 2012, as a goodwill gesture, 400 Iranian dissidents residing in Camp Ashraf in Iraq began their relocation from Camp Ashraf, their home of 25 years, to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad international airport. They volunteered for this transfer even though minimum guarantees for their safety and security have yet to be provided by the Iraqi Government or the United Nations. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has formally recognized the residents of Ashraf as “asylum seekers” and “persons of concern,” which entitles them to fundamental protections and security based on humanitarian standards. Nevertheless, the Iraqi Government, with the tacit approval of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Martin Kobler, relocated the Iranian dissidents to Camp Liberty which, contrary to its name, is more like a prison than a transitional facility for “asylum seekers.” The Iraqi-imposed inhumane and humiliating conditions under which 400 residents were transferred to Camp Liberty, as well as the atrociously sub-humane living conditions of the camp amply reveal the nefarious intentions of the Iraqi Government.
