Kurdish asylum seekers who have lived in Europe for less than four years are not allowed to work. They don?t have health insurance and are living in extremely stressful psychological situation. When a company wants to hire someone, the company should send the person?s papers to the job office so that the person gets insurance, health insurance, and retirement insurance, but when the job office sees the person does not have asylum, it suggests the company hire someone else who does have asylum or citizenship. The job offices in Sweden and Germany have long lists of people who are jobless, and the priority is for European people when it comes to awarding jobs.
Asylum seekers living in a refugee camp in Germany receive 40 Euros and 90 cents monthly from the government. They receive food twice weekly and clothes twice yearly. Many Kurdish people who do not have asylum work illegally. In most of the cases, these workers are exploited by employers who pay them much less than usual.
Bestoon Najm, 23, lives in Stockholm and is from Kirkuk city. He went to Sweden three years ago because the security situation was very bad he still does not have asylum. He works in a restaurant illegally for a Finish boss. "I can't save any money--all the money I earn I spend on daily needs and an apartment. Life here is difficult for us; everything is expensive and you can?t do anything here without money," said Najm. Najm said he has decided to return to Kurdistan permanently at the end of September. "The Swedish government does not give me asylum, and I don't want to waste my youth here."
But some of the refugees are reluctant to return to Kurdistan. "If we go back to Kurdistan, then we have to start from zero," said Zana Abdulwahid, who has been in Germany for six years and still does not have asylum.
"Here in Europe I have no money, and in Kurdistan I have nothing since I left Kurdistan eight years ago. All my friends in Kurdistan who we went to university together now have their own homes and cars, and many of them now are married with children,? said Abdul Wahid, who lives in Munich. ?I am reluctant to go back; if I go back I would feel I am a stranger in Kurdistan and I would feel that I have wasted six years in my life,? he added.
The Globe talked with several Kurdish refugees in Sweden and Germany, and starting from zero is their main reason for not wanting to return to Kurdistan. In Iraqi Kurdistan Region, there are still youths who want to live in Europe; they believe Europe is paradise when it comes to entertainment, and some believe that earning money is easy in Europe.
I advise all Kurdish youths not to come live in Europe; it is madness for a young Kurdish man to try to become a refugee in Europe. Europe is not what you see on TV,? said Kamal Omer, who lives in Munich, Germany, and has asylum.
In the 1990s, emigrating to Europe was a good thing. There was civil war in Kurdistan and two sanctions on Kurdistan--the United Nations embargo, which was against all of Iraq, and Saddam Hussein?s embargo, which was only against Kurdistan Region, said Omer. Omer added that in the ?90s there was no life for people, especially for youths in Kurdistan. But now it is different--now Kurdistan is safe and its economy is growing.
But some have a different view. Alan Bayz from Stockholm says Europe is good in terms of freedom and entertainment. "I wouldnt tell anyone not to come to Europe; if someone wants to live in Europe, he should come and experience it for himself." Bayz admitted that Europe is very difficult if you don't have asylum. "But--beside all the problems--I always have electricity, and I have health insurance and good doctors and medicine, and we don't have these things in Kurdistan."
Currently, a number of European countries, Sweden, Britain, and Germany, are deporting Iraqi refugees. Meanwhile, a group of failed Iraqi asylum seekers who were forcibly deported to Baghdad recently claimed they were beaten by British security staff and Iraqi police. The violence allegedly erupted when the refugees refused to leave a charter flight after it touched down in Baghdad.
Pictures of one of those said to have been injured were released by the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, a London-based organization.
The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government bans flights returning failed asylum seekers from UK.
The U.K.?s home office deportation flights are being prevented from taking failed asylum seekers directly to Kurdistan Region because of a diplomatic dispute with the KRG. The ban is on incoming flights from the U.K. landing forcibly returned Kurds at the regional airport in Irbil. Political objections and local protests have led to the U.K. Border Agency redirecting the planes to Baghdad. The KRG said it has asked the British government to send only those people who want to go back. It is opposed to forcible deportations.
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