UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

v. Risk of Persecution or Other Serious Harm Upon Relocation
A person from Central or Southern Iraq may be out of reach of his or her persecutors if
relocated to the three Northern Governorates, as the state protection of the Kurdish
authorities may come into play. Protection by the KRG authorities will, however, only be
provided if the person is both admitted to the Region of Kurdistan and if the Kurdish
authorities are able and willing to provide protection in the given case concerned.
Despite the existence of police/security structures in the three Northern Governorates, of
which an individual could conceivably avail him/herself in order to seek state protection, as
well as the fact that the KRG authorities are to some extent able and willing to provide such
protection, people in the three Northern Governorates depend mainly on their family,
community or tribal links for protection. Persons not originating from the North will,
therefore, only be able to rely on the protection of the authorities. Depending on the cause
of persecution, the authorities may not be willing or able to provide protection.
This is particularly the case for members of the former Ba’ath Party, Government or
security apparatus, since the KRG authorities would not be willing to provide protection to
persons thought to have supported the former regime, which was responsible for egregious
crimes against the Kurdish people.
There is also a strong likelihood that a high-profile person (e.g. a political leader, academic,
judge, etc.) could still be at risk of persecution by non-state actors if relocated to the three
Northern Governorates. The KRG authorities are not always able to protect individuals in
their territory from such attacks.
Women at risk of “honour killing”, as well as persons fleeing tribal conflict (blood feuds)
may also still be reached by their persecutors if relocated within Iraq.
c) The Reasonableness Analysis
Persons legally residing in the three Northern Governorates in principal have access to food
rations through the PDS, education, health and employment. Also, IDPs are allowed to rent
apartments or houses, but are, except for Kurds, not entitled to own immovable property.
However, for a number of reasons, access to these services is not always guaranteed. For
example, IDPs often face bureaucratic hurdles and delays of several months in obtaining
their food rations in the place of displacement, meaning that they may be without food for
several months.
In addition, it must be noted that there are at least 770,000 IDPs in the three Northern
Governorates. 839 Accordingly, services such as education, health, electricity, fuel and water
are under tremendous pressure. All Governorates lack drugs and medical equipment and
have difficulties absorbing increasing numbers of school children. All three Governorates
839 See: Cluster F, Update 23 May 2007, see above footnote 22. This figure includes both persons displaced
as result of sectarian violence and ongoing military operations since 2006 (143,000 persons) as well as
persons displaced prior to 2006 (634,000 persons).
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