[JURIST]The Iraqi parliament [official website] on Thursday approved a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [draft text; CFR backgrounder] that sets a 2011 deadline for the withdraw of US troops but also passed an additional law calling for a national referendum on the pact in July 2009. The vote on the SOFA had been delayed several times while majority Shia and minority Sunni factions negotiated over the Sunni-favored referendum [JURIST report] and other provisions. The SOFA itself will take effect on January 1st, 2009, a day after the current UN mandate authorizing the US presence in Iraq expires. The International Herald Tribune has more. Aswat al-Iraq has local coverage (in English and Arabic).

The SOFA was approved [JURIST report] by the Iraq cabinet on November, 16 2008. In addition to the official deadlines for troop withdraw, it gives Iraqi courts limited jurisdiction [JURIST report] over American military personnel and eliminates immunity [JURIST report] for US defense contractors working within Iraq.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] said Wednesday in a new report [text; HRW press release] that Greece and Turkey are according inhumane treatment to migrants and possible asylum seekers from Iraq and elsewhere attempting to enter the EU. The report describes the migrants as trapped in a "revolving door" because the EU's Dublin II Regulation [text] stipulates that the state of first entry is responsible for evaluating an asylum claim. Greece nonetheless blocks migrants’ entrance into that country by disabling vessels and secretly and forcefully deporting would-be asylum seekers back across Turkish borders. For those who make it to Greek territory, the government blocks access to asylum procedures, and denies 98 percent of all asylum claims. Turkey in turn deports Iraqis to their home country "without giving them a meaningful opportunity to seek protection." The report recommends that the EU reevaluate the Dublin II Regulation and suspend transfers of asylum seekers back to Greece, examining asylum claims itself. It also calls on Greece to make a public commitment to ensure a fairer asylum process and to stop forceful deportation practices.

The UN has been urging [official statement] the EU to revise the Dublin II Regulations to ensure the rights and protection of refugees and asylum-seekers since 2006. In 2005, Amnesty International concluded in a report [text, PDF] that Greece was not meeting international rights standards for asylum seekers.

[JURIST] Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz [official website, in Hebrew] said Wednesday that he is considering indicting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official profile] following police recommendations in connection with his alleged double billing [Haaretz report] of state and charitable donors for travel expenses in 2002-2006 while serving as a government official. Olmert allegedly accumulated over $100,000 in an account handled by the same agency to fund his own and his family’s travel. In the face of the Attorney General’s formal statement Olmert has the right to defend himself [Haaretz report] at a hearing. Pursuant to that, the Attorney General may or may not decide to indict Olmert. If Mazuz moves to indict, Olmert would be the first PM to be indicted in Israeli history [AP report].

The double billing case was one of the reasons [JURIST report] why Olmert officially resigned in September, but he is currently continuing to serve as caretaker PM until a new PM is elected on February 10, 2009. Olmert maintains his innocence on all charges, and refuses to step down by declaring himself incapacitated or taking an extended leave, despite critical pressure [BBC report] from his own Kadima [official website, in Hebrew] party.