Iraq to issue return permits for migrants on Poland-Germany border

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s embassy in Poland will offer Iraqi migrants stuck on the Polish-German border laissez-passers to voluntarily return home, an official said on Monday as thousands of people continue to take dangerous routes in attempt to cross to western Europe.

“In response to appeals from a number of Iraqi migrants in the Republic of Poland, a delegation from the Embassy of the Republic of Iraqi in Warsaw is heading to the German-Polish border, for the purpose of granting laissez-passers to Iraqi citizens wishing to voluntarily return to Iraq,” Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesperson for Iraq’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

According to Sahaf, there are 403 Iraqi migrants on the German-Polish border.

Thousands of Iraqi and Kurdish people have traveled to the Polish border in recent months, where they hope to cross over then make their way to Germany. In response, Poland has tightened its border security. Some migrants on the Belarus-Poland border have sustained injuries, and several others have lost their lives.

Last month, the German foreign office denied rumors of picking up migrants on the Belarus border into Germany. 

Poland has also refused to take in any migrants, instead calling on them to return home. However for those already in Poland, the choice remains between returning to Iraq and reaching their destination next door.

Germany's new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, expressed solidarity last week with Poland, but has called for the humanitarian treatment of migrants and refugees stuck near the country’s border with Belarus, particularly as temperatures drop.

Erbil and Baghdad have accused Minsk of exploiting the migrants for political gains against the European Union. Iraq suspended the work of both the honorary embassy of Belarus in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil in an effort to prevent its citizens from traveling to Minsk.

Iraq began offering repatriation flights last month, returning over 3,000 Iraqi and Kurdish migrants from Minsk. 

Around 37,000 people left Kurdistan and Iraq in the first ten months of 2021, according to the Summit (Lutka) Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has acknowledged the existence of systemic problems and financial hardships but says it is working to address these issues.