Hundreds of Afghans who were hoping for permanent refugee status in Europe, Australia, Iran and Pakistan have been forcibly repatriated.
The Independent Media Consortium (MC)findings show Britain
The Independent Media Consortium (MC)findings show Britain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Greece, Italy, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Finland and Ukraine have all sent temporary visa holders back to Afghanistan.
For instance on March 13 last year, 65 refugees were repatriated by the British government. The British Embassy in Kabul, while conveying the government’s decision, had sought permission for the “landing and flight” of the deportees.
Sweden, Norway and other European governments also carried out similar exercises.Their decisions were conveyed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to the ministries of interior affairs and refugees and repatriation(MoRR) vide letter number 416, dated 11 March, 2012.IMC has a copy of the letter.
The ministry of returnees and Refugees has signed bilateral and three sided memorandum of understanding (including UNHCR) for improving the situation of Afghan refugees and their voluntary return.
There is evidence that in some cases of repatriation involving Scandinavian countries refugees who were sick were deportedin contravention of humanitarian principles.
Under the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees a person who fears persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a group, or political opinion can claim asylum. The concept of a refugee was expanded in 1967 to include a person who has fled war or other violence in their country.
Ibrahim, a resident of Ghor province, who was repatriated from Sweden on October 2, is scathing in his criticism of the Swedish police, police and MoRR. He says no human rights organisation came forward to support his case.
“I have an enemy here, and had to leave Afghanistan because ofthe threat to my life,” Ibrahim told IMC. “But I was told in Sweden, ‘You don’t have a problem. You should be expelled’.”
Ibrahim says he went on hunger strike in protest for 12 days in the city of Astorp, Sweden. Police officers arrived at the scene of the protest, and forcibly took him away. “I was sedated. The next thing I knew was they had taken me to the airport. They put me on a flight. They said I had to leave Sweden. Unfortunately animals are treated more humanely than refugees in Sweden,” he says.
Official indifference
Ibrahim accuses Afghan government authorities of being hand-in-glove with European officials on the matter of Afghan asylum seekers. They let European countries expel Afghan refugees, he says.
President Hamid Karzai has a hand in the forcible repatriation of refugees, he alleges. “I was in a death situation. I called (Mohammad) Mohaqeq (the leader of Hezb-e-Wahdat Islami) and (Ramazan) Bashar Dost (member of parliament from Kabul) and explained my problem. They also said Karzai had requested the returning of the refugees.”
On April 16, 2013, Ali Karimi (from Shahrestan district of Daikundi) was deported from Denmark where he had lived for four years. “I was jailed ahead of an official visit of four Afghan statesman to Denmark. Then the authorities said I should leave Denmark though my doctor told them I was in poor health, and should not be deported,” he told IMC. He says he had fallen from a building, and suffered injuries on his back and both arms.
However, MoRR officials “blindly signed” the consent, and assured Danish authorities “they would provide me with a good life and work in Afghanistan should I return,” he says.
According to Ibrahim, European countries do not expel refugees from Pakistan, Iran, Syria or Iraq because their countries defend their plea for asylum unlike the MoRR.
Karimi alleges he was “beaten” by the guards of Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Jamahir Anwari. “When I went to the minister of refugees to share my problem, the minister asked me who has received you. I told him his representative had let me in. He told me I am not an Afghan, and then I was beaten by his guards,” says Karimi.
A disconsolate Karimi adds, “Everyone in the ministry including guests were watching the guards beat me. They could see I was sick but no one helped me.”
Karimi has a recording of the event. Minister Anwari can be clearly heard telling him he was not an Afghan national.
The number of Afghans seeking asylum in the West and Australia, which had fallen even two years ago, has been on the rise with the approaching deadline for the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014. By a rough guess one in every four refugee in the world is from Afghanistan. Afghans made 36,200 claims for asylum in developed countries last year, according to the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). For Australia alone there were 2,126 claims from Afghans in the first half of 2012, more than four times as in the same period in 2011.
Those who could not afford to fly into the country to seek asylum, were paying tens of thousand dollars to human smugglers to undertake perilous journeys including in rickety junks on the Pacific Ocean.
Tens of thousands cross the border into Pakistan and Iran without valid papers. An estimated 1.6 million Afghan refugees are registered with the Pakistan government, but an equal number live illegally. Even registered Afghans are not allowed to buy mobile phone connections, get driving licenses or open bank accounts.Illegal workers are from time to time pushed back into Afghanistan by Iranian border police.
Going by rules
Former minister for refugees and repatriation Abdul Samad Hami says more Afghans are being deported from industrialised countries. “They are being forcibly repatriated when the UN convention for refugees says it should be voluntary,” he told IMC.
MoRR has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran, Pakistan, Australian and nine European countries. “The main goal of signing of MoU is forceful expulsion of Afghan refugees,” he insists. Australia deported Afghan refugees soon after signing the MoU. Afghan MPs had condemned the forced deportation, he recalls.
Spokesman for the MoFA, Janan Musazai, says the ministry is in touch with its counterparts in Europe regarding the repatriation of Afghan asylum seekers. “Our position is that forceful expulsion should not take place at all. We will continue our frequent contacts with European countries. The countries that expelled Afghan refugees have promised not to forcibly deport given that refugees are entitled to support and political support. Those who were sent home were expelled after due legal process,” he insists.
Researcher Liza Schuster who has been studying the plight of Afghan refugees in Europe believes a stronger MoFA and MoRR could have stopped the deportation. “The MoUs have facilitated the expulsion of Afghan refugees from Europe,” she says. The Afghan government does not take responsibility, she asserts.
UNHCR spokesperson Nader Farhad says the MoUs are for facilitating the repatriation of those who failed to meet the criteria for asylum, and not for refugees. “If norms of shelter are followed no country can expel, and voluntary return becomes the norm,” he adds.
However, Abdul Ghafour Rafiye, who was expelled by Norway this year, does not agree with Farhad. The year a MoU was inked with Norway – 2011 – he was expelled, he says.
“The signing of an MoU in current situation (strife and insecurity) is a mistake because the conditions are not good. Afghanistan should have not done this. In such a situation why would a European country give shelter to Afghan refugees,” he asks.He accuses the government of “encouraging European countries to expel Afghan refugees.”
Rafiye says he had to flee Afghanistan because he was working with an international NGO. Now MoRR has “played with his destiny and that of other refugees who have been expelled illegally” from countries they were sheltering in.
He cited the case of a refugee called Sahel who was “sedated, and expelled forcibly by Sweden on May 12 (2013). Unfortunately immigration officers in Kabul airport received him”. Also, Hanif, who is sick, was deported by Sweden a few months later on September 11, he adds.
IMC tried to interview Islamuddin Jurat, MoRR spokesperson, but he did not show up for the appointment.
Humanitarian call
Afghan refugees have been protesting peacefully in many parts of the world to attempts to send them back to their country. Some 300 Afghan children, women and men were out on the streets in Brussels in end-June urging authorities to issue residence permits. In March, refugees in Germany were protesting for better living conditions. Afghan asylum seekers in Hungary protested in November last year.
Refugees are quoted saying they paid human smugglers tens of thousands of dollars to live in safety in the industrialised countries.
IMC emailed European embassies in Kabul to find out how Afghan refugees were being treated in their countries.
Only the Swedish and Danish embassies replied before November 9, the deadline for submissions. While the former sought more time to get clarifications from Stockholm, the Royal Embassy of Denmark said only those who were accepted by Afghan officials were repatriated.
Richard Danziger, IOM’s (International Organisation of Migration) chief of mission for Afghanistan told IMC they were continually assisting Afghans who “don’t have documents”.
Refugees protested in Greece and Italy against the discrimination and harassment. Ali Payam from Ghazni who lives in Greece complained to IMC about the “bad behaviour of Greek police” and the indifference of MoRR. “Greece is not a place for Afghans,” he says. “Things are worse there for Afghans than in Afghanistan.”
Afghans travel overland through Iran and Turkey to reach the Greek islands. “They (Afghan refugees) don’t have food, and live on the street and in parks,” Ali Payam observes.
Zulmai Pashtoon, head of Afghan Refugees Union in Greece, blames MoRR for the plight of Afghan in the country. “I have been living since 13 years in Greece … Any Afghan who tries to enter Greece stays in prison for 12 to 18 months. Currently there are 1,200 Afghan refugees in Greek jails.”
Afghanistan does not have consular facilities in Greece. Embassy officials from Bulgaria visit the country once in three months to provide assistance. Janan Musazai, MoF spokesperson, confirmed,
“The Afghan embassy in Bulgaria is trying to solve the problems.”
(*) Independent Media Consortium is a joint initiative of Pajhwok Afghan News, The Killid Group (radio and print media), Saba Media Organisation (Saba TV-Radio Nawa nets) and Hasht-e-Subh. This is the eighth of a series of investigative reports on corruption and human rights cases.
