UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

een killed in Iraq and another 491 injured as of August 2006. While some died in combat,
others have solely been targeted for “collaborating” with the MNF. 520
Acts committed against (former) employees or perceived supporters of the MNF embassies
or foreign companies may vary from verbal harassment and threats to individuals and their
families, to kidnapping, physical attacks and murder. Neither the Iraqi authorities nor the
MNF or foreign states are capable of granting proper security to their respective local
nationals and employees, 521 in particular not once the working relationship has ended.
2. Employees of the UN, ICRC or Humanitarian Organizations Including
NGOs and Human Rights Defenders
The UN and most foreign and international NGOs depend largely on local Iraqi staff to
implement their activities in the country. Most international staff was pulled out of Iraq
following a series of attacks on humanitarian personnel, including the bombing of the UN
Mission in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, an attack on ICRC on 27 October 2003, and
several kidnappings and killings of humanitarian workers. According to the NGO
Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI), at least 82 aid workers have been killed since
2003. 522 In addition, at least 86 aid workers have been kidnapped, 24 arrested by official
forces and 245 injured. While these figures include both Iraqis and foreigners, the brunt of
violence is borne by Iraqis. 523
While Iraqi aid workers are at risk of the same generalized violence as other Iraqi civilians,
their work exposes them to greater risks, for example, when they work in “hot-spot” areas
or move around the country. In addition, Iraqis who previously or presently work for (or
have any type of association with) the UN, ICRC or humanitarian organizations, are
perceived by the insurgency as condoning and supporting the “occupation” of Iraq or
furthering “Western” ideas such as democracy or human rights. For example, a printed
520 Pratap Chatterjee, A Translator’s Tale, CorpWatch, 9 August 2006, http://www.corpwatch.org/
article.php?id=13992. See also Larry Margasak, Former Iraqi Translator Tells of Threats, AP, 15 January
2007, http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8MM0T300.html; Sabrina Tavernise and Robert F.
Worth, Few Iraqis Are Gaining U.S. Sanctuary, The New York Times, 2 January 2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/world/middleeast/02refugees.html?ex=1325394000&en=ecd41eeff27f7
aed&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss; Patrick Fort, Meet Iraqi translator who survived many attacks,
Middle East Online, 19 December 2006, http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php?refid=WH-S-25-12-
2006&article=12759.
521 See, for example, Reuters, Feature – In Iraq, contractor deaths near 650, legal fog thickens, 10 October
2006, http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N10275842; BBC News, Iraq violence:
Facts and figures, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5052138.stm [last updated 29 November 2006]. See
also: Reuters, In outsourced U.S. wars, contractor deaths top 1,000, 3 July 2007, http://www.reuters.com/
article/politicsNews/idUSN0318650320070703; BBC News, Denmark ends secret Iraq airlift, 20 July 2007,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6908792.stm. See also above footnote 10, and: UNHCR, 2005 Eligibility
Guidelines, p. 13, see above footnote 8.
522 As of 15 February 2007; the actual figure may be even higher as not all incidents are reported; see NCCI,
http://www.ncciraq.org/. See also: IRIN, Iraq: Aid workers remain under threat, say NGO officials, 23 March
2006, http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=26223.
523 Information received from NCCI in January 2007.
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