The European Union’s (EU) member states are currently carrying out discussions on forcibly deporting Iraqi refugees to their home country, an EU official revealed yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Baghdad, the EU Ambassador to Iraq, Patrick Simonnet, explained that the EU held a meeting on Wednesday during which member states addressed the issue of forcing Iraqi refugees, currently dwelling in EU countries, to return to their homeland.

Simonnet stressed that the bloc aims to avoid forced returns, adding that there they will cooperate with the Iraqi government on this matter.

According to the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), dozens of refugees in Britain and the United States are being reportedly prepared to be forcibly removed and deported back to war-torn Iraq, despite the poor security situation in the country.

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Some figures by the Bureau of Investigative Journalists show that more than 600 Iraqi refugees who spent their childhood in Britain were being removed once they had turned 18 over the past nine years.

The move was recently criticised by international human rights organisations.