Thank you once again for your recent e-mail about Mark Brockway’s speech at Parliament regarding Iraqi’s working for the British armed services getting settlement in the UK; as raised in Early Day Motion 2057.

Although I do not feel that EDMs are an effective way of raising a particular issue or cause, I have written further to the Immigration Minister at the Home Office to raise these concerns on your behalf.

As soon as I have received a response I will be in touch with you once again. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Dear Patricia Hewitt,

David Miliband made a statement last week regarding the plight of the Iraqi employees working for the British Forces, offering financial assistance with resettlement or asylum but only for those that can prove they have worked for us for 12 months or more. On his FCO blog, Mr Miliband described this as a “sensible and honourable way forward”. I must disagree. There is little that is honourable about failing to aid someone because they did 11 months work for us rather than 12.

Mark Brockway, the former soldier who spoke at the Parliament meeting I have mentioned to you previously, has stated that local staff were often employed for less than 12 months, or fled their jobs before 12 months had passed precisely because they had been targeted by militias, or were not given proper documentation by the Army. These people are being left to the mercy of the death squads due to an arbitrary length of service requirement, and that is unacceptable. The criteria for aiding these people must not be their length of service, but whether they are at risk for the crime of helping us.

Can I please ask you to write to the Foreign Office and the Home Office to ask why the Government is ignoring the plight of hundreds of people who were placed at risk serving our forces. Additionally, I would like to ask you to sign the following Early Day Motion, table by Lynne Featherstone.

EDM 2057

IRAQI EMPLOYEES
09.10.2007

Tabled by: Featherstone, Lynne
That this House recognises the courage of Iraqis who have worked alongside British troops and diplomats in Southern Iraq, often saving British lives; notes that many such Iraqis have been targeted for murder by Iraqi militias in Basra, and that an unknown number have already been killed, whilst many others are in hiding; further recognises that many Iraqis who have worked for fewer than 12 months for the UK are threatened by death squads; and therefore calls upon the Prime Minister to meet the UK’s moral obligations by offering resettlement to all Iraqis who are threatened with death for the `crime’ of helping British troops and diplomats.

This is a mirror of Dan’s post. Do the necessary, everyone.

Our Government is still proposing to abandon people to the death squads for having worked for the troops it sent, in our name, to Iraq.

The ‘twelve month’ stipulation is utterly unacceptable.  In the Miliband statement, the Government  committed itself to doing nothing to shelter people at risk from death squads for having worked for British soldiers or diplomats, unless they can prove that they have worked for the British for a continuous period of twelve months.

There are a lot of local employees who fled their jobs before 12 months precisely because they had been targeted, or who did a 6-month tour for one British battalion and were then told to go and work for the Americans, or who did 12 months or more with interruptions, or who the Army didn’t give proper documentation too. Mark Brockway (former Sergeant-Major, TA Royal Engineers) said so, several times, at the meeting on October 9th; so did Andrew Alderson (Major, Yeomanry); so do the employees, and serving soldiers, who are in touch with them, or with me, by email.

This is indescribably shabby. It has to be changed.

The first letters to MPs worked. Telephoning the offices of  MPs, I was frequently told ‘They’ve written to the Home Office about it- they got all these letters from constituents.’ So without the letters that you wrote, we wouldn’t have had Brown’s partial climbdown, which may at least save the lives of those hundreds of Iraqis who can prove that they worked for twelve months for us.  Write another letter- or write your first- and we can save some more lives.

As before, bullet points for a letter are below. So is a form letter, but don’t send it unchanged: adapt it a lot. It’s just there to help people over writer’s block. Again, be courteous when writing to your MP and put your full address including the postcode, to indicate that you are a constituent. If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out here. You should address letters to: (MP’s Name), The House of Commons, Westminster, London. SW1A 0AA. When you get a reply, let me know (in comments, or to danhardie.blog@gmail.com ) so that we can see which MPs we can work with, and which need persuading.

Bullet points:

• David Miliband’s Statement on ‘Iraq: Locally Recruited Civilians’ of 9th October stated that Britain will help to resettle- in the wider Middle East, or in the United Kingdom- Iraqis who can prove that they have worked for this country’s soldiers or diplomats for a continuous period of twelve months.
• Hundreds of Iraqis have been targeted for assassination for having worked for this country. Some have worked for a period of twelve months exclusively for the British and can prove this. Some have not but have been pinpointed for murder anyway. We have a responsibility to save these people from being murdered for the ‘crime’ of working for the British.
• There are a lot of local employees who fled their jobs before 12 months precisely because they had been targeted, or who did a 6-month tour for one British battalion and were then told to go and work for the Americans, or who did 12 months or more with interruptions, or who the Army didn’t give proper documentation too.
• Iraqi staff members must be given shelter not because of their provable length of service but according to whether they have been identified for murder by local death squads. This can be investigated on the spot by Army officers and referred rapidly to London: the process needs to start now.
• Mr Miliband’s statement did not mention the families of Iraqi employees. As Iraqi militias also murder the families of their ‘enemies’, we must resettle our employees’ families as well. Mark Brockway, an ex-soldier who hired many Iraqis, estimates that we are talking about a maximum of 700 Iraqis to resettle: this country admits 190,000 immigrants net every year.
• Iraqis have already been targeted for murder for having worked for this country. We will be shamed if we allow more to be killed for the same reason. Our soldiers, who are angry at this betrayal, and our diplomats, will be placed at risk if they gain a reputation for abandoning their local helpers.

Form letter:

(MP’s Name)

The House Of Commons

Westminster

London. SW1A 0AA.

                                                                     Your full name and address.

Dear (MP’s Name)

As you will have read in the Times, Iraqis who have worked for British soldiers or diplomats are being targeted for murder by local militia. An unknown number have already been killed and more have been forced into hiding.

On October 9th, David Miliband’s statement on ‘Locally Recruited Civilians’ in Iraq said that Britain would offer assistance with resettlement for Iraqis who had worked with British forces, but only if they could prove that they had worked for us for 12 months or more. This is effectively leaving hundreds of Iraqis, who have risked their lives for this country’s forces, to the mercy of the death squads.

Mark Brockway, a former soldier who employed many Iraqis, told Channel Four News on 9th October that local staff often worked for six months for British units, during which time they were frequently identified as ‘enemies’ by the local militias. I believe that the Government has a direct responsibility for the safety of these people.

I feel that it is morally unacceptable that this country is following such a policy. I also believe it will endanger our soldiers and diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan. Can I please ask you to write to the Foreign Office, and also to the Home Office which has charge of asylum policy, to ask why the Government is prepared to ignore the plight of hundreds of people who were placed at risk serving this country’s soldiers.

Yours sincerely

That’ll be a no then.

Written Ministerial Statement

09 October 2007

IRAQ: ASSISTANCE TO LOCALLY EMPLOYED STAFF
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. David Miliband):

On 8 August the Prime Minister announced a review of the Government’s assistance to our Locally Engaged staff in Iraq.  The Defence Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary of State for International Development, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and I have now agreed on the elements of a scheme.
Locally engaged Iraqi staff working for our armed forces and civilian missions in Iraq have made an invaluable contribution, in uniquely difficult circumstances, to the UK’s efforts to support security, stability and development in the new Iraq.   We are hugely grateful to them for their contribution, which continues to be essential to the delivery of our mission in Iraq. 
In recognition of that,  we have decided to offer those staff, on an ex gratia basis, assistance which goes above and beyond the confines of what is lawfully or contractually required.  Assistance will be based on objective criteria, taking into account determinable and relevant factors.  It is offered in recognition of the service by these courageous Iraqis in direct support of HMG’s efforts to help the Iraqi Government and people build a peaceful, stable and prosperous Iraq.

The assistance announced by the Prime Minister yesterday will allow Iraqi staff, including but not limited to interpreters, currently working¹ for HMG in Iraq, who have attained 12 months’ or more continuous service, to apply for a one-off package of financial assistance of between 6 and 12 months’ salary, depending on length of service, to meet the costs of relocation for themselves and their dependants in Iraq or the region, if they are made redundant or have to resign from their job because of what we judge to be exceptional circumstances.  Alternatively, these staff will be able to apply for exceptional leave to enter the UK, or to avail themselves of the opportunity for resettlement in the UK through the UK’s Gateway refugee resettlement programme, provided that they meet the criteria for the programme, including that they satisfy UNHCR that they meet the criteria of the 1951 Convention and need resettlement.

In addition, interpreters/translators and other Iraqi staff serving in similarly skilled or professional roles necessitating the regular use of written or spoken English, who formerly worked for HMG in Iraq, will be able to apply for assistance for themselves and their dependants provided that they satisfactorily completed a minimum of 12 months’ service, and they were in our employ on or after 1 January 2005.   Former staff meeting those criteria will be able to apply for a one-off package of financial assistance similar to that available for serving staff, or to avail themselves of the opportunity for resettlement in the UK through the Gateway programme as set out above.

This assistance will principally apply to Iraqi nationals who meet the eligibility criteria set out above, and who work, or have worked, in Iraq in the following capacities:

• as direct employees of the UK Armed Forces or the Ministry of Defence;
• on Letters of Appointment from the British Embassy in Baghdad or the British Embassy Offices in Basra and the Kurdistan Region;
• as direct employees of DFID and the British Council.

In addition, we are considering what assistance may be provided to a limited number of contracted staff meeting the eligibility criteria who have worked in particularly close association with us as an integral part of HMG programmes, projects and operations in Iraq.    

We will announce further details, including on how eligible staff may apply, before the end of the month.  

¹ defined as those working for our civilian missions or armed forces on or after 8 August 2007, the date on which the review of policy was announced.

1) The meeting is now in Portcullis House cos Hazel Blears has nicked the original venue.

2) It’s not enough. My second letter to my MP mentioned the “Government’s willingness to do the right thing”. As it stands, this measure is a betrayal of any poor sap who hasn’t worked for us for an arbitrary 12 month period.

1) Maintain the pressure

2) Dan is not a doctor, despite what Nick Cohen might think.

But how about your MP? Yes, you, the bloke who was Googling for “back off this yoghurt has bits in it”, and whoever it was who wants to know what religion that Usmanov character is, and even the strange lad who was searching for information on “being half a man”.

And yes, I’m talking to people who read this blog deliberately as well – if you haven’t emailed your MP about the meeting on October 9th, please do so. Tell them about the meeting, tell them that US Congress are doing the decent thing and so should we, tell them about the terrible things happening to people who helped us in Iraq and above all tell them to badger the shit out of the Home Office until they stop hoping people will forget about it and actually do something.

This is Patricia Hewitt’s response:

Thank you for your recent email regarding the status of the Iraqi translators who worked for the British forces in Iraq, and the review commissioned by the Prime Minister. I have written further to the Home Office on your behalf.

Thank you also for notifying me on the meeting on Tuesday 9th October in Committee Room 14. Unfortunately, due to diary committments I will be unable to attend. However, I will of course follow the progress of this review.

As soon as I have received a response I will be in touch with you once again. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me again.