Section 5

Question 1

Aram is an Iraqi Kurd. He arrived in this country in 2002 and claimed asylum on arrival. His fear of persecution arises from a blood feud which went back over 20 years. A family called Fatin had been instrumental in implementing a plan, devised by Saddam Hussein's regime, to remove Iraqi Kurds from their villages and place them in a camp. The project went ahead in spite of the protests which Aram's father made to senior members of the Fatin family, and Aram and his family moved under sufferance to the camp.

Aram's father received the support of a Kurdish fighting group in his quarrel with Fatin, and in 1986 Fatin was killed, alongside his cousins. The idea got about that Aram's father was in some way responsible for the killing. Aram says that this was not true, and that his father did not instigate the killing.

In 1994 Aram 's father was killed by the Iraqi security forces. Aram believed that he was killed on the grounds that he had been responsible for the death of Fatin, who had been an agent of the Iraqi Government. The following year Fatin's family tried to avenge his death by attempting to kill both Aram and his paternal uncle, who ran a bakery, but they did not pursue their plans once they realised that Aram and his uncle had obtained the protection of the Kurdish Democratic Party ("KDP"). The other main political party in the Kurdish Autonomous Area ("KAA"), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ("PUK"), supported Fatin's family. Aram was not himself a member of the KDP, though one of his maternal uncles was a senior member.

In 1997 the family was forced to close the bakery shop and move to an area under KDP control where Aram felt relatively safe. His paternal uncle was killed, however, in 1998 in a fight between the PUK and the KDP.

On 14 th March 2002 Aram was shot at from a taxi. He could see the person who shot at him. It was a member of the Fatin family. Aram believed that this was an attempt to kill him or kidnap him. The incident was reported immediately to the police, who were given a description of the attacker and of the car in which he had been travelling. The police notified checkpoints but the car was not spotted. The police could not provide Aram with 24-hour protection, and as a result he went into hiding and in due course left the country.

Aram says that his fear was of the Fatin family. He felt that a truce could not be organised with this family because he was unable to see them in order to negotiate it. If he had any means of effecting a reconciliation he would take advantage of it, but he did not know where they were currently living. There was also a lack of certainty now about who in each family would have the authority to negotiate such a truce.

His claim has been refused on the ground that he has no fear of persecution because the police can provide effective protection, and any fear that he has is not based on a Convention reason. He comes to you for advice on the appeal. What arguments can you make to support his claim for asylum?

Question 2

Ochir has travelled to the UK overland from Mongolia, his home country. He got on a long distance bus in Mongolia and was stowed by an agent into a false roof space. He could breathe through a small tube piercing the roof above him. He was told to stay there until someone came to get him out. This happened some 40 hours later when someone pulled him out by his feet into a wagon containing the bus. He was told that he was in a tunnel under the English Channel, and that he must claim asylum on his arrival at the port. Exhausted and dehydrated after his journey, Ochir asked no questions. Only when he arrived at the immigration desk did he realise that he did not have his passport. He had given it to the man who had pushed him into the roof space when he began his journey. He assumed it would be waiting for him here with someone but it was not.

Ochir wants to claim asylum. What legal obstacles will there be to the progress of his claim, and what procedures can he expect to face in the UK?

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Section 5.

Section 5

Question 1

Question 2