Iraqi employees campaign latest
The campaign to help secure safe haven for the Iraqi employees of the British forces in Southern Iraq moves on apace. Thanks to the tireless Dan Hardie, Lib Dem MP Lynne ‘The letters, eh? We have all been having a lot of them and we’ve been writing to the Home Office about it’ Featherstone and Conservative MP Ed ‘My support is unconditional‘ Vaizey have agreed to co-host a at Portcullis House in October (date to be confirmed). Mr Vaizey has also offered to make public statements on behalf of the campaign.
More responses from MPs are coming in. And Philip Challinor received this from the Home Office via his MP:
Thank you for your letter to the Home Secretary of 26 July on behalf of Mr Philip Challinor. I have been asked to reply.
Mr Challinor asks us to grant asylum in the United Kingdom to locally engaged staff who have helped the British Forces in Iraq. we are extremely grateful for the service of locally employed staff in Iraq and take their security very seriously. We recognise that there are concerns about the safety of locally employed staff. We keep all such issues under review and we will now look again at the assistance we provide. The total number of Iraqis who have worked for us since 2003 with a claim to assistance could be at least 15,000. We therefore need to consider the options carefully in this genuinely complex area.
The Prime Minister has commissioned a trilateral Ministerial review to consider the options. The Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Foreign & Commonwealth Office are the members of the review group, which will present recommendations to Ministers in late September. At this stage it would not be appropriate to pre-empt the recommendations. I hope this reassures you that we are taking seriously the issues that have been raised surrounding locally employed staff working for the UK in Iraq.
(Signed) Tony McNulty, pp Meg Hillier.
The MPs response so far stand at:
Conservatives (1):
Anne Milton
Labour (15):
Celia Barlow
Hugh Bayley
Alistair Darling
Wayne David
Frank Dobson
Jim Fitzpatrick
Ian Gibson
Helen Goodman
Patricia Hewitt
Sadiq Khan
David Lammy
Chris Mole
Andrew Smith
Dr Rudi Vis
Paul Truswell (via Ian Clenshaw)
Lib Dems (4):
John Barrett
Lynn Featherstone
Don Foster
Robert Smith
If you’d like to help, try the following:
- Watch the video.
- Write to your MP. Ask them to refer your concerns to the Home Office, Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence.
- Let us know in the comments if you get a response.
- Join the list of supporters.
- If you think your MP might be sympathetic, visit their constituency surgery, explain the matter of the Iraqi employees, and ask if your MP would be willing to co-sponsor the meeting at Portcullis House in October.
- Spread the word. If you have a blog, why not help yourself to one of Unity’s lovely blog banners?
- Keep up with latest on the Iraqi employees’ plight with Google News Alerts.
- Sign the petition.
Lastly, with thanks to Chris Brooke, there’s this.
The Times, August 23: Britain ready to back down on asylum for its interpreters in Iraq
The Government has accepted privately that interpreters who face persecution and death for helping British troops in Iraq must be given sanctuary in Britain.
Posted on August 24th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
[...] area, for whom we should be making special asylum arrangements but aren’t, range from about 15,000 to about [...]
Got a letter from my MP (lib dem Don Foster, Culture, Media & Sport) yesterday indicating support.The Lib Dems also have an online petition here:
http://www.campaigns.libdems.org.uk/interpreters
Dear Rachel
Thank you for your recent email regarding the case of 91 Iraqi interpreters [*note from RN: I actually said 'Iraqi employees not interpreters because it is a bigger problem than the 91] and their claim for asylum. I agree with you wholeheartedly that these people who have risked their lives in order to help British troops in Iraq should be granted asylum in the UK as thei rlives are at risk otherwise. I will be writing to Des Browne on the issue and will get back to you as soon as I have a response from him.
Your sincerely
Diane Abbott MP
Labour, Hackney
Just heard from Tony Lloyd (Labour):
“Whilst I do not think there should be a blanket policy for all Iraqis working for the UK Government, we need to give proper consideration to the many Iraqis whose lives are at risk. It is important that they are given asylum as protection as well as gratitude for risking their lives for the UK.”
Which I think is reasonably good.