• Document dated January 19, 2012; UNHCR cannot certify and/or verify that Camp Liberty meets Humanitarian Standards
• Kobler on January 31, 2012: The infrastructure and facilities of Liberty are in accordance with international standards
• Call on the U.S. and the UN for immediate and impartial investigation into the criminal activities of Martin Kobler in making Ashraf residents homeless and sending them to Camp Liberty prison under the banner of the United Nations and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
A shocking document obtained by the Iranian resistance reveals new dimensions of Martin Kobler’s criminal conspiracy to implement the orders of Iranian regime and the Iraqi government to render Ashraf residents homeless and to send them to Camp Liberty prison. Document is attached.
This document is dated January 19, 2012 printed on UNHCR letterhead, includes a technical assessment of Camp Liberty prepared by UNHCR shelter expert Martin Zirn. The document is titled “Temporary Transit Location for ex-Ashraf residents in Camp Liberty.”
Martin Kobler, who was well aware of the situation at Camp Liberty, from the onset tried to make UNHCR complicit in his effort to render Ashraf residents homeless and send them to Liberty prison; to this end he took a UNHCR shelter expert with himself to Baghdad in order to have him participate in issuing a compliance certificate for Camp Liberty.
Although this document is not signed, it was written on a letterhead of UNHCR in Ethiopia, where Martin Zirn had been working until few weeks ago.
Click here to see the document
The document is prepared “based on the Technical Assessment of Sector 1[of Camp Liberty] on WED 18 January [2012]”. On that day, in addition to Martin Zirn, Martin Kobler and his deputy György Busztin, Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain, representative of WHO, Claire Bourgeois, the UNHCR’s representative in Iraq, and a number of other UNAMI officials visited Camp Liberty.
The draft clearly shows that Liberty is far from humanitarian and human rights standards and its infrastructures are so inefficient that cannot be quickly completed and repaired. The draft reiterates:
“From the technical point of View, UNHCR cannot Certify and/or verify that the above location meets Humanitarian Standards according to the many existing standard books, i.e. UNHCR Handbook, SPHERE, WHO and others, bearing in mind that these are thought for Refugees in Emergencies.
UNHCR cannot certify and/or verify the functionality of infrastructures and/or utilities that are buried.
UNHCR cannot certify and/or verify the functionality of infrastructures, such as:
Generator sets
Water pumps
Water supply
Water tanks
Waste water disposal (pipes, tanks and pumps)
Electrical/IT supply and distribution etc.”
The document specifies “It is essential that the Gol permits Ashraf Contractors to enter the TTL 3-5 days prior to relocation of the caseload.”
Despite the report, however, after January 18th visit, Martin Kobler sent a series of photographs to the representative of the residents to present an excellent image of Camp Liberty contrary to the UNHCR expert assessment. This was clearly aimed at deceiving the residents to go to Liberty; photographs that quickly turned out to be quite selective and retouched photos.
On January 31, twelve days later, and in contrast to January 19 report, Martin Kobler issued a statement in which he said: “The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UNAMI Human Rights Office have now confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at Camp Liberty are in accordance with the international humanitarian standards stipulated in the MoU.”
“I am grateful to the UNHCR and the Human Rights team for their expertise. This brings us a step further in ensuring that proper conditions are in place for voluntary relocation of Camp New Iraq residents”, he said.
A day earlier, on January 30,2012 Ms. Claire Bourgeois, the UNHCR Representative in Iraq, in a report entitled “Technical assessment of Temporary Transit Location (TTL) for ex-Ashraf residents in Camp Liberty” presented an image that was absolutely different from the January 19th draft. After a series of explanations, this report concluded that: “From the technical point of view and in compliance with known shelter and camp standards, such as SPHERE and UNHCR, the TTL-camp Liberty can be considered suitable to accommodate the residents.”
According to available documents, this technical report that was supposed to be prepared professionally and impartially, was edited and finalized by Martin Kobler, while Kobler had claimed that he would not interfere in professional work of Martin Zirn.
With the passage of time, there remains no doubt that the January 31st statement of Kobler and January 30th technical assessment were absolutely unrealistic. And yet, after one year, despite huge expenditures by the residents (including $4 million for fuel and $2.5 million for water), the situation of the camp’s infrastructure remains critical, and after December 25th rain, Liberty is inhabitable. Sewage and water engulfed the entire camp. In the past week, the residents drained 18 million liters of water with elementary equipment such as tankers, but the environment remains contaminated due to water and mud and movements are hampered.
The document of January 19th that Kobler has kept secret until now reveals that he consciously and deliberately circulated a fabricated report of the UN and UNHCR to deceive the residents,. This is a blatant betrayal of human rights, the sacred principle of asylum, and values based on which the United Nations has been founded.
However, it is not clear how in just 11 days Camp Liberty came to meet all the requirements that it lacked. The World Health Organization representative and the WHO Book that were referred to in the January 19 draft are deleted and the need for Ashraf contractors to visit Camp Liberty prior to transfer of residents is removed? These issues turn to be more serious when one considers that they had been brought up numerous times between December 2011 and January and February 2012 by residents’ representatives, their lawyers, parliamentary groups, and prominent political personalities, but Kobler did not respond to any of them and simply covered the truth. This is a criminal act.
The Iranian Resistance calls on the U.S. government and the UN Secretary-General, and High Commissioner for Refugees –who are responsible for the security, protection and the rights of Ashraf and Camp Liberty residents as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and asylum-seekers who are entitled to international protection– to conduct an immediate and impartial investigation on Mr. Martin Kobler’s criminal acts particularly under the banner of UN and UNHCR. These acts include the forcible eviction of Ashraf residents and sending them to Camp Liberty prison.
The Iranian Resistance also calls on U.S. government and the UN Secretary-General to guarantee the security, protection and rights of Ashraf and Liberty residents, including their right to their property.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 3, 2013
