VZCZCXRO1350
RR RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHIK RUEHKUK
RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHRL #0918/01 2121444
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311444Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4747
INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1523
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 000918 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
State for EUR/CE, EUR/PGI, NEA, PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PGOV PREL PHUM IOM UNHCR IZ JO SY GM
 
SUBJECT: Iraqi Refugee Arrivals Proceeding: 866 of 2500 
Settled to Date 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  A total of 866 Iraqi refugees have arrived of 
the 2500 that Germany agreed to resettle under the terms of 
last year's European Union agreement.  This is the first time 
that Germany has worked with the UNHCR to permanently resettle 
refugees directly from overseas.  Iraqi refugee selections are 
based on need for protection and it is expected to take until 
the end of the year before all 2500 have arrived.  Germany- 
based representatives of the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) hope that this experience will result in the 
German government accepting more refugees in the future.  End 
summary 
 
 
¶2. (U) In November 2008, the EU Member State Justice and Home 
Affairs Ministers agreed to resettle 10,000 Iraqi refugees who 
have fled to Syria and Jordan.  German Interior Minister 
Wolfgang Schaeuble was a motivating force in the EU for the 
decision to accept the refugees.  With 2500 (2000 from Syria 
and 500 from Jordan), Germany is resettling the most refugees 
of any EU member state, followed by France with 1,800.  Nasim 
Faruk, the deputy head of IOM's program in Germany, discussed 
the refugee resettlement program with EconOffs. 
 
 
Eligibility Criteria 
-------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Although Schaeuble initially suggested that 
preference would be given to accepting Christian refugees this 
has not turned out to be the case.  MoI desk officer Arndt 
Sartorius (Directorate for Migration, Refugees, Integration, 
European Harmonization), indicated that the idea that the 
refugees be primarily Christian originated from 
representatives of (Protestant) churches and Schaeuble had 
repeated this suggestion to make the issue more saleable 
domestically.  In actual practice, all refugees are selected 
based on their need for protection though many are, in fact, 
Christian. 
 
 
¶4. (U) The refugees are drawn from a camp in Amman, Jordan and 
another camp outside Damascus, Syria.  Officials from the 
Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) work together 
with representatives of UNHCR and IOM to identify potential 
candidates for resettlement in Germany.  Germany's policy is 
to give resettlement preference to particularly vulnerable 
refugee populations that have no prospect of returning to Iraq 
safely and who also lack any opportunity for integration in 
Syria or Jordan.  These include members of persecuted 
(religious) minorities in Iraq, people who require specific 
medical help and single women with responsibility for caring 
for family members.  Other selection criteria that are taken 
into consideration are integration skills (e.g., school and 
vocational training, professional experience and language 
skills), ensuring the unity of the family, and connections to 
Germany that can assist in integration. 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Resettlement candidates undergo security background 
screening and there are a number of criteria for exclusion 
based on past behavior.  Individuals who played a significant 
role in maintaining the previous regime; individuals convicted 
of crimes that are regarded as premeditated offenses in 
Germany; and those with connections to criminal organizations 
or terrorist associations are excluded from the admission 
process.  In some instances, the security screening has caused 
delays in admissions processing as individuals lack 
appropriate documentation and verifying information/police 
records is a lengthy process. 
 
 
Refugee Processing 
------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) In Syria, IOM makes initial contact with potential 
resettlement candidates and organizes their medical checks in 
the refugee camps in cooperation with UNHCR and 
representatives of German agencies on site.  UNHCR conducts 
pre-selection interviews from which German officials base 
their assessment of eligibility.  IOM also organizes the 
 
BERLIN 00000918  002 OF 002 
 
 
charter flights taking the refugees to Germany.  The flights 
take refugees to Hannover for two weeks of in-processing at a 
central site in the nearby town of Friedland, Lower Saxony. 
During the in-processing, decisions are made concerning each 
refugee's settlement location.  All sixteen of Germany's 
federal states are required to resettle a portion of the 2500 
quota based on the size of the state.  However, IOM's Faruk 
indicated that the sparsely populated state of Mecklenburg- 
Vorpommern has asked if they can pay to have their allotment 
relocated elsewhere in Germany. 
 
 
¶7. (U) Many of the 866 refugees that have arrived to date 
belong to families with existing contacts or relatives in 
Germany.  The majority of the 866 refugees belong to 
persecuted minorities, including Christians (477), Mandaeans 
and Yezidi.  A small number were in need of medical 
assistance.  Refugees receive free housing, language training, 
job placement assistance and a monthly stipend that is 
slightly higher than the usual amount for asylum seekers.  The 
refugees are issued residence permits that entitle them to 
seek employment.  Civil society groups provide continued 
integration assistance once the refugees have moved to their 
permanent residences. 
 
 
Prospects for the Future 
------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) IOM's Faruk hopes that if German political leaders view 
the resettlement of the 2500 Iraqis as a success, they will 
consider accepting more refugees from Iraq and other 
countries..  Along these lines, MoI's Sartorius mentioned 
ongoing discussions among EU member states on the creation of 
an EU solution to the problem of African migrants landing on 
the shores of Greece, Malta, Italy and other Mediterranean 
countries.  However, earlier this month Minister Schaeuble 
stated that Germany was still burdened by the resettlement of 
Balkan refugees from the 1990s and he rejected a binding EU 
agreement to allocate African refugees among member states. 
Schaeuble argues for a voluntary model.  However, Faruk does 
not view this as the last word on this matter and noted the 
extensive political debate that occurred prior to agreement on 
the Iraqi refugee program.  Faruk added that the German 
Embassy in Malta recently announced Germany's decision to 
resettle 14 Eritrean refugees stranded in Malta and held this 
as an example of Germany's willingness to continue refugee 
processing. 
 
 
BRADTKE