To:

The United Nations
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
The European Union
Governments of refugee-receiving countries
International human rights organizations
Trade unions, civil society organizations, and all individuals committed to human rights and humanitarian principles

Thousands of Kurdish and Iranian refugees and asylum seekers residing in Southern Kurdistan, many of whom fled political repression in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran and sought safety from imprisonment, torture, execution, and other forms of persecution, continue to face serious and persistent threats.

These threats include missile and drone attacks, the risk of assassination and abduction, the possibility of forcible return to Iran, and severe socioeconomic hardship, including unemployment and homelessness. Taken together, these circumstances have created an increasingly dangerous and unsustainable situation for vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers.

According to reports and documentation by human rights organizations, political activists from Eastern Kurdistan have been killed in Southern Kurdistan in recent years in attacks attributed to operatives linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Such attacks and threats have continued. During and following the recent regional conflict, the headquarters and camps of political organizations from Eastern Kurdistan have repeatedly come under drone and missile attacks, resulting in deaths, injuries, and substantial material damage.

At the same time, the 2023 security agreement between Iran and Iraq, combined with continued pressure exerted by the governments of Iran and Iraq on the Kurdistan Regional Government, has generated serious concern regarding the future safety and legal status of these refugees and asylum seekers. Political, security, and military pressure on organizations from Eastern Kurdistan, as well as on refugees and asylum seekers originating from the region, has continued to intensify.

We therefore call upon the international community to ensure that political agreements and security arrangements between states do not place refugees and asylum seekers at risk or undermine their rights under international law.

The principle of non-refoulement, a fundamental principle of international refugee protection, must be fully respected. No refugee or asylum seeker should be forcibly returned or transferred to a country where they face a real risk of persecution, torture, execution, or other serious violations of their fundamental rights. Any transfer of Kurdish or Iranian refugees and asylum seekers to Iran under such circumstances could place their lives, safety, and fundamental rights in grave danger.

According to a report published by Iran Human Rights in August 2026, 71 people were executed in Iran during the month of Pushper, bringing the reported number of executions during the first seven months of 2026 to 444. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has also raised serious concerns regarding executions and the detention of individuals on national-security-related charges. These developments further underscore the grave risks faced by individuals who may be forcibly returned to Iran.

In particular, we call upon Dr. Barham Salih, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to use his authority, experience, and humanitarian mandate to give urgent and sustained attention to the situation of these refugees and asylum seekers. We call for concrete measures to protect their lives, safety, fundamental rights, and human dignity and, where necessary, to facilitate their safe relocation to countries where their security and fundamental rights can be effectively guaranteed.

The Kurdistan Equality Society calls upon the United Nations, UNHCR, OHCHR, the European Union, refugee-receiving countries, international human rights organizations, trade unions, civil society organizations, and all people committed to human rights and humanitarian principles to take immediate and concrete action to protect and assist these vulnerable people.

We Therefore Demand:

1. Protection Against Forcible Return

In accordance with the principle of non-refoulement, all forms of forcible transfer, deportation, or return of Kurdish and Iranian refugees and asylum seekers to Iran must be prevented.

UNHCR and other relevant international institutions should urgently assess the situation of these refugees and asylum seekers, ensure their access to essential humanitarian assistance and effective international protection, and take the necessary steps to facilitate their safe relocation to appropriate third countries as soon as possible where such relocation is necessary for their protection.

International human rights organizations should independently and continuously monitor their situation, with particular attention to the specific and heightened vulnerabilities faced by women, children, and other individuals at particular risk.

2. Protection in Southern Kurdistan

The Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government must take effective and practical measures to protect refugees and asylum seekers residing in areas under their respective authority until durable and safe solutions, including relocation to third countries where appropriate, can be secured.

They must take all necessary measures to prevent armed groups, foreign state operatives, or other actors operating within or across the territory under their authority from threatening, attacking, assassinating, abducting, or otherwise endangering refugees and asylum seekers.

The safety and fundamental rights of refugees and asylum seekers must not become bargaining instruments in political, military, security, or diplomatic agreements between states.

3. International Solidarity and Humanitarian Assistance

We call upon human rights organizations, trade unions, progressive political parties and organizations, civil society groups, Kurdish living abroad, freedom-loving people from Iran, and all individuals committed to human rights and humanitarian principles to raise their voices in support of these vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers.

We urge them to provide every appropriate form of humanitarian, political, legal, and material assistance to help protect these people and enable them to escape their current precarious and dangerous circumstances.

From a humanitarian perspective, the Kurdistan Equality Society also expresses its support for the appeal of the “Campaign to Save Iranian Refugees” concerning refugees residing in Southern Kurdistan and joins its call for the protection of refugees’ lives and their urgent relocation to safe third countries where necessary.

No to the forcible return of refugees.

No to assassination, abduction, torture, and execution.

No to national, ethnic, religious, and political oppression.

Yes to safety, dignity, equality, freedom, and a secure future for refugees.

Human dignity and human life must come before political agreements and state interests.

 

Executive Center of the Kurdistan Equality Society

8 August 2026