UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

After repeated announcements about merging the KDP-administration in Erbil/Dahuk and
the PUK-administration in Sulaymaniyah, the two administrations were united on 21
January 2006. The seat of the KRG is in Erbil. According to the power-sharing agreement,
the KDP heads or will head the KRG Ministries of Finance, Peshmerga Affairs, Higher
Education, Agriculture, Martyrs, Culture, Electricity, Natural Resources, Municipalities,
Sports and Youth as well as the Ministry for Extra-Regional Affairs. The PUK oversees the
Interior, Justice, Education, Health, Social Affairs, Water Resources, Transportation,
Reconstruction, Planning and Human Rights ministries. The KRG Ministries of Finance,
Peshmerga Affairs and Interior should unite within one year; 844 however, to date no
agreement has been reached on the merger of these crucial portfolios.
In the past, UNHCR has argued that a person originating from the area under one party’s
administration might not be able to relocate to the area under the other party’s
administration should he or she face persecution in his or her area of origin, given the
various political, legal and other obstacles encountered in relocating. 845 Despite the
unification of the two administrations and the establishment of a joint Government and
National Assembly, the two administrations still remain largely split and continue to
exercise their individual powers. The (partial) unification reinforces the argument that the
granting of legal residence and protection to a person fleeing persecution in the area
dominated by the other party may be withdrawn for political reasons (i.e. not to upset the
other party in the process of unification).
Persons seeking to relocate from one area to the other in order to flee persecution may face
the following difficulties:
- Difficulty accessing the other area (passing of checkpoints); 846
- Granting of residency may depend on political considerations and may be withdrawn if
the political agenda changes;
- Granting of protection may also depend on political considerations as well as tribal and
personal affiliation;
- Fear that family members who stay behind could be harassed if a person flees to the
other administration’s area;
- Difficulties accessing basic services without family/community support network
(mainly single women and female heads of households);
- Those fearing persecution by Islamist groups may not be able to find protection in the
other part of the three Northern Governorates, as they may still be within reach of their
persecutors; the same applies to women fearing “honour killing” as well as persons
fleeing tribal conflict (blood feuds) as they may still be within reach of their families
and communities.
844
KRG, Kurdistan Regional Government Unification Agreement, para. 1-5, 21 January 2006,
http://www.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&RubricNr=107&ArticleNr=8891&LNNr=28&RN
Nr=70. For a full list of the KRG cabinet, inaugurated on 7 May 2006, see KRG, Ministers of the new unified
cabinet, 7 May 2006, http://www.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?ArticleNr=10938&LangNr=12&LNNr
=28&RNNr=70.
845
See UNHCR, 2005 Eligibility Guidelines, Annex VII, p. 57-59, see above footnote 8.
846
Despite the unification, there continue to be a total of four checkpoints on the former border between the
KDP and the PUK-ruled areas.
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