The Home Secretary has signed a “landmark” deal with Iraq to crack down on people smuggling and boost border security.
Yvette Cooper made the “world-first security” agreement with Federal Government of Iraq interior minister Abdulameer Al-Shimmeri during a three-day visit to Baghdad and Erbil this week, the Home Office said, representing the “biggest operational package to tackle serious organised crime and people smuggling between the two countries ever”.
She is the first UK Government secretary of state to visit the country since 2021 and was joined by her new border security command chief Martin Hewitt as she met ministers from the Federal Government of Iraq and in the Kurdistan Regional Government.
These landmark commitments between the UK Government and Iraq and the KRI send a clear signal to the criminal smuggling gangs that we are determined to work across the globe to go after them
The Home Office said smuggling networks operating out of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and Europe have been responsible for “trafficking thousands of people across the globe, including across the Channel to the UK” which has been “undermining border security and putting lives at risk”.
The move “marks a shift in the UK Government’s approach to tackling irregular migration”, the department said.
Ms Cooper said: “These landmark commitments between the UK Government and Iraq and the KRI send a clear signal to the criminal smuggling gangs that we are determined to work across the globe to go after them.
“There are smuggler gangs profiting from dangerous small boat crossings whose operations stretch back through northern France, Germany, across Europe, to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and beyond. Organised criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too.
“The increasingly global nature of organised immigration crime means that even countries that are thousands of miles apart must work more closely together than ever to stop these gangs getting away with it, to strengthen our border security and to stop so many lives being put at risk.”
As part of the pact, Ms Cooper committed to providing up to £300,000 for Iraq law enforcement training in border security which will focus on organised immigration crime and drugs and will “increase the capacity and capability of Iraq’s law enforcement at the border”.
A further £200,000 has been pledged towards a new irregular migration and border security taskforce and other projects in the KRI.
Another £300,000 will be given to help Iraq “disrupt serious organised crime”, including organised immigration crime and drugs.
Efforts will also be made to tackle “misinformation and myths that people smugglers post online” in the regions.
A commitment to “international and humanitarian law” and commitments to “international human rights standards from Iraq” were “central” to the agreements being made, the Government department said.
The two countries also agreed “co-operation on the efficient return of people who have no right to be in the UK and joint work on countering smuggler gang propaganda and misinformation to prevent people making dangerous journeys”.
More than 2,000 Iraqis arrived in the UK in the year to September after crossing the Channel.
Mr Hewitt said: “Enhancing our border security requires international efforts, which is why collaboration with Iraq and the KRI is so important. This work is only going to improve, which means smuggling networks should be on notice that we are coming after you.”
The deal comes ahead of the UK and Germany hosting the so-called Calais Group in London, which sees ministers and police from the two countries, alongside France, Belgium and the Netherlands, gather to discuss migration in Europe.
