PM Barzani discusses migrant crisis, security with German state secretary in Manama
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani continued his three-day participation in the Manama Dialogue 2021 security forum in Bahrain on Saturday by meeting with Miguel Berger, Germany’s State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office.
The two, along with accompanying officials present from both governments, discussed various aspects of cooperation, specifically security, but focused primarily on the current precarious situation for migrants stuck at the border between Belarus and Poland.
Berger thanked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for the measures it has taken against human traffickers to prevent illegal immigration and human trafficking, as well as efforts to facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to the Kurdistan Region.
On Thursday evening, over 400 people, mostly Kurds, arrived in Erbil on a flight from Belarus arrived in the Kurdistan Region, a government spokesperson said during a press conference at Erbil International Airport (EIA) on Thursday evening.
Read More: Over 400 migrants on flight from Belarus touch down in Kurdistan Region's Erbil
While speaking to Kurdistan 24 shortly after their arrival in Erbil, returning migrants gave a mix of reasons for setting out on the dangerous journey, from Yezidis (Ezidis) who had been living in Kurdistan Region displacement camps since fleeing the disputed district of Sinjar (Shingal) when ISIS took over the area in 2014 to others who cited a lack of local job opportunities as their motivation.
Prime Minister Barzani indicated that the Kurdistan Region welcomes any coordination at all with European Union member states to address the root problems involved.
The two sides also discussed the ongoing reform program of Barzani's administration, opportunities to enhance investment in the Kurdistan Region, Baghdad-Erbil relations, and the general situation in Iraq following October's parliamentary elections.
In late October, Germany renewed its support to the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS (UNITAD) by providing it with an additional one million euros in funding for its investigations into how Islamic State (ISIS) crimes were financed in Iraq and Syria.
Read More: Germany provides one million euros to UNITAD to help its investigations into ISIS financing
“This support is central to UNITAD’s overall investigative efforts, as it seeks to uncover the financial mechanisms that supported or enabled perpetrators to profit from ISIL’s grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” UNITAD said in a press release at the time.
