Camp Liberty – No. 25
Torture and pressure on residents of Camp Liberty with water shortages and dodging on connection to the water main at residents’ cost
Forcible transfer of the fifth group to Camp Liberty makes the water situation more critical and is absolutely unacceptable
NCRI – While 65 days of the transfer of the first group of residents to Liberty has passed, the problem of water not only remains unresolved but with the population rising has continually become more difficult and the Iraqi government practically uses preventing the inhabitants’ access to water as a means of torture to apply pressure on them.
The only source of water supply for Camp Liberty is a water hydrant located 12 km from the camp. Area residents as well as companies in the airport and government agencies use water from this hydrant, such that water tankers sometimes must wait in queue up to four hours and must also wait at the entrance of Liberty for hours. Often a tanker trip to the water hydrant takes more than seven hours!
Accordingly, the residents hardly can provide adequate water for 1600 with limited number of tankers they had taken from Ashraf and by rented tankers. Often under various pretexts, the Iraqi forces prevent water tankers from entering and consequently even the minimum water can not get to Liberty.
Since the fourth group of 400 people came to Liberty, the crisis has worsened and water rationing is in place such that laundry and washing items are coupled with many problems.
Average water consumption per capita is 400 litres in Iraq, 600 litres in the US, 500 litres in Australia and in Europe 300 litres because of frequent rainfalls. Iraqi Prime Ministry Committee tasked to suppress Ashraf residents has set 200 litres of water per capita in Liberty, but the maximum water that comes to Liberty, including all general purposes, is an average of 170 litres, which includes uses such as bakeries, industrial ice-making, washing large garbage containers and garbage trucks, that are not included in per capita calculation. The real per capita rate is 150 litres which is less than one-third of the per capita consumption of water in Iraq.
Liberty residents have continuously raised the water problems with the representatives of Iraqi government, UNAMI and the American Embassy and have provided practical solutions for solving it and are willing to pay the cost themselves. One solution to this crisis is to connect the water main to the city’s water network, which passes from one and a half kilometers from the camp. The representative of the Iraqi government refuses to resolve this issue by delaying tactics. The goal is clearly torture and harassment of Liberty residents.
In these unbearable conditions, the forced displacement of the fifth group from Ashraf to Liberty makes the situation even more critical and more unbearable. The transfer of other residents to Liberty before resolving the water issue is anti-human, illegal and criminal.
The Iranian Resistance draws the attention of the United Nations Secretary-General, Special Representative of Secretary-General, High Commissioner for Refugees and the US government to the critical situation of the water in Liberty and calls for immediate action to resolve the water problem and to stop any further transfer to Liberty until this is done.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 24, 2012
