Message from the Archbishop of Canterbury to families, relatives and supporters of the residents of Camp Ashraf in the United Kingdom
Sunday 20 September 2009
The Archbishop of Canterbury, currently on a visit to the Anglican Church in Japan, today issued a statement highlighting his concerns for the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
Earlier in the week the Archbishop met a small group of Ashraf supporters, including some of those currently on hunger strike, to listen to their concerns. It was clear to the Archbishop that important humanitarian and pastoral issues were at stake which required urgent attention.
’The continuing situation in Camp Ashraf, together with the fact that the 36 people taken from the camp in July have not been released, constitutes a humanitarian and human rights issue of real magnitude and urgency. There is a strong argument in terms of international law that the Ashraf residents are ’protected persons’. Both the government of Iraq and the government of the United States – as the agency responsible for the transfer of the residents to another jurisdiction – have an obligation to secure the rights of these residents and to defend them from violence or abuse.