Protect Refugees

Canada has deported hundreds of people to countries designated too dangerous for civilians, with more than half of those people being sent back to Iraq, according to government data obtained by Reuters.

Between January 2014 and Sept. 6, 2017, Canada sent 249 people to 11 countries for which the government had suspended or deferred deportations because of dangers to civilians. That includes 134 people to Iraq, 62 to the Democratic Republic of Congo and 43 to Afghanistan, the data shows.

The United Nations’ High Commission on Refugees recommends states refrain from deporting people to Iraq because of the human rights situation and the conflict there, said Jean-Nicholas Beuze, the organization’s Canadian representative. “The responsibility is on the state sending people back to those countries to make sure ... that those people will not become internally displaced within their own country and dependent on humanitarian aid,” Beuze said.