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UN Experts Appalled By Mass Forced Returns Of Afghan Nationals
UN Experts Appalled By Mass Forced Returns Of Afghan Nationals

Scoop

time20-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Scoop

UN Experts Appalled By Mass Forced Returns Of Afghan Nationals

GENEVA (18 July 2025) – UN experts* today condemned ongoing mass returns of Afghan nationals – many of them refugees – from Iran and Pakistan, as well as threatened or actual forced returns from other countries. 'The scale is staggering: more than 1.9 million Afghans have returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan so far in 2025,' the experts said. More than 300,000 people have returned from Pakistan and over a 1.5 million from Iran, including 410,000 who have been deported from Iran since 24 June. Thousands of the returnees are unaccompanied children. Following the Iran-Israel conflict, forced returns of Afghan nationals have escalated, including those with valid documentation. Security-related discourse has intensified anti-Afghan sentiment. 'Returns must be halted immediately,' the experts said. 'Afghanistan is not a safe country for returnees, given the constantly deteriorating human rights situation since the Taliban seized control, nearly four years ago.' 'Those forced to return have genuine fears for their safety and security and face very real risks of persecution, threats, and violent reprisals,' they said. The experts stressed that women and girls are systematically deprived of their fundamental rights, while LGBT and gender-diverse persons face criminalisation. Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the Taliban's 'Supreme Leader' and Chief Justice, who are accused of the crime against humanity of persecution on gender and political grounds. Former security and government officials, including judges and prosecutors, those critical of Taliban policies, such as human rights defenders and journalists, as well as religious and ethnic minorities are at particular risk of reprisals and serious harms if they are returned, the experts stated. 'No government should ignore these very real dangers in Afghanistan – doing so would constitute an abandonment of their moral and legal responsibility.' UN experts have repeatedly warned that these returns may violate the principle of non-refoulement referenced in UNHCR's February 2023 non return advisory. They reiterated that States, due to the sheer quantity and forceful nature of returns, cannot ensure that Afghan nationals have access to fair procedures where their individual protection needs are fully assessed. Many Afghans have experienced discrimination, mistreatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, raising serious concerns under international refugee and human rights law. 'We are concerned that more States are considering to deport or forcefully return Afghans, and some have halted or suspended resettlement programmes, leaving at-risk and vulnerable Afghans in limbo – including those whose cases have previously been approved for resettlement,' the experts said. They stressed the need for an increased humanitarian response for Afghanistan and host countries to address the international protection needs of the population. More than four million Afghans have been internally displaced as a result of conflict and disasters. The experts also urged the expansion of resettlement and complementary pathways to third countries along with measures to facilitate departures from host countries. 'Amid large numbers of returnees arriving in Afghanistan, we call on all Member States to urgently provide adequate funding to organisations providing desperately needed humanitarian and reintegration support for Afghans,' they said. The experts expressed particular concern about the separation of families, including children, and specific risks for women, especially women-headed households and those without a mahram. ' The situation is being exacerbated by the Taliban's restrictions on women humanitarian workers,' they said. *The experts:

Iran's Expulsion of Afghans Deepens Afghanistan's Humanitarian Crisis
Iran's Expulsion of Afghans Deepens Afghanistan's Humanitarian Crisis

Forbes

time17-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Forbes

Iran's Expulsion of Afghans Deepens Afghanistan's Humanitarian Crisis

Afghan refugees, after being deported from Iran, rest at the Islam Qala border crossing between ... More Afghanistan and Iran on July 4, 2025. (Photo by Mustafa Noori / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by MUSTAFA NOORI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images) Since March of 2024, Iran has expelled more than 1.2 million Afghans with nearly half a million deported in just two weeks following its June conflict with Israel. While deportations began 2023, they have accelerated sharply in recent months, exacerbating what is already one of the world's most severe displacement crises. Afghanistan is home to over 2.6 million officially registered refugees and 3.5 million internally displaced people. Most Afghan refugees reside in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan, and Iran hosts an estimated 4-6 million Afghans, many lacking formal legal status . With more than 4 million Afghans live in Pakistan, almost 2 million illegally, Pakistan has also periodically tightened its immigration policies. Islamabad forced an exodus of Afghans in 2016 and 2017 when more than 600,000 and 150,000 were expelled, respectively. More recently, citing a rise of violent attacks and a strain on public services, Pakistan has forced out another 850,000 Afghans since 2023. Though Iran has also cited security concerns and its conflict with Israel as the reason for the mass deportation effort (with Afghans scapegoated and accused of spying on behalf of Israel), it is Iran's deteriorating economic conditions that have driven the expulsion of Afghans. Runaway inflation and job scarcity have led to rising anti-Afghan sentiment within Iran. Many Afghans have faced violence, humiliation and abuse at the hands of Iran's security personnel and in some cases, Iranian citizens. International human rights groups have also documented Afghans in Iran enduring years of physical abuse, unlawful detentions in inhumane conditions, slave labor and family separation. And yet it was the dire economic conditions in Iran that drove Afghans to willingly leave in 2018 when 400,000 undocumented Afghans returned due to the lack of job opportunities in Iran. Most Afghan migrants have to take low paying jobs in Iran's grey economy and the depreciation of Iran's rial made it impossible to support their families back in Afghanistan—which widely uses the dollar. Some Afghans were making far less than $4 a day and could not survive. Most Afghans that have remained in Iran only have a quasi-legal status. Those better off were formally recognised as refugees from earlier waves of displacement, while those who arrived primarily after the Taliban returned to power were census slip holders with limited access to housing, jobs, education and healthcare. By 2022, 2.6 million Afghans were registered through this census slip holder process. But on June 5th of this year, the Iranian government declared that these censor slips were no longer valid, ordering an estimated 2 million to leave the country, lacking legal recourse and humanitarian support. Return to a Collapsing State Those being forced to return to Afghanistan face an uncertain future. The Taliban-led government has little administrative capacity to reintegrate hundreds of thousands of returnees. Those returning have no homes to go to and face renewed displacement. The state has no revenues to support basic services and donors are no longer paying the bills. Health, water and sanitation services have halted, leading to a spike in preventable illnesses. Any basic services that the government does provide are mired in bureaucratic delays. According to figures from a United Nations report, the poverty rate in Afghanistan is a staggering 97% with an unemployment rate of 69%-- both worsening since the Taliban took over. For women, the situation is even more depressing with 90% of women excluded from the workforce, unable to work outside their homes. Afghanistan's formal economy has also effectively collapsed, and over one-third of Afghans face acute food insecurity, with 95% of Afghans reporting that they do not have enough to eat. Not surprisingly, the burden of malnutrition and calorie deficits falls most heavily on girls and women. Compounding matters, terrorism continues to threaten Afghanistan. Most of the Taliban's revenues have been drained to address the threat posed by the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP). Though the Taliban's heavy-handed approach has resulted in a decline in ISKP attacks, the Taliban has not been able to prevent the ISKP from using its territory to launch attacks on other countries. While an influx of returning refugees has no direct effect on terrorist group capacity, large numbers of displacement and people living in poverty are conditions that terrorist groups can exploit. The Taliban's strained relationships with Iran and Pakistan further complicate reintegration efforts. As both countries continue deportations, Afghanistan's already fragile stability may collapse under the pressure.

30 Jun 2025 19:22 PM UN: More than 250,000 Afghans left Iran in June
30 Jun 2025 19:22 PM UN: More than 250,000 Afghans left Iran in June

MTV Lebanon

time30-06-2025

  • Politics
  • MTV Lebanon

30 Jun 2025 19:22 PM UN: More than 250,000 Afghans left Iran in June

More than 256,000 Afghans left Iran in June alone, marking a surge in returns to Afghanistan since Tehran set a hard deadline for repatriations, the UN's migration agency said. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded as many as 28,000 Afghans leaving Iran in a single day in June, after the Iranian regime ordered all undocumented Afghans to leave the country by 6 July. The number of Afghan refugees in neighbouring Iran has swelled since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, many of whom live without legal status. This has contributed to growing anti-Afghan sentiment in Iran, with refugees facing systemic discrimination. The IOM said more than 700,000 Afghans had left Iran since January, with spokesperson Avand Azeez Agha telling news agency AFP that 70% had been "forcibly sent back". The surge in repatriations - and the deadline - have come since Iran and Israel engaged in direct conflict with one another, beginning with Israel attacking nuclear and military sites in mid-June. A ceasefire has since been brokered. As the two exchanged daily strikes, the Iranian regime arrested several Afghan migrants it suspected of spying for Israel, state media reported. Following these claims, a new wave of deportations began. The semi-official Iranian Mehr news agency reported that police had been directed to accelerate deportations, though the police later denied this. "We're scared to go anywhere because there's always the fear they might accuse us of being spies," one Afghan migrant in Iran, who we are not naming to protect their identity, told BBC Persian. "At the checkpoints, they do body searches and check people's phones. If they find any messages or videos from foreign media on social networks, it could literally put someone's life in danger. "Many Iranians insult us, saying things like: 'you Afghans are spies' or 'you work for Israel'." Numerous reports in Iranian media indicate that even Afghans with valid visas and documentation have been forcibly deported. Some Afghans who were detained and later freed said they were accused by officials of betraying the country. Arafat Jamal, the UN's refugee co-ordinator for Afghanistan, said that while there was now a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, "the consequences of that war continue". "This movement pre-dates the war, but it has been exacerbated by it," he told BBC Pashto. "And what we hear from the returnees is a series of actions that have caused them to come back, some of them quite coercive, others not as much." Afghan refugees are not eligible for Iranian citizenship, even if they are born in the country, while many are unable to open bank accounts, buy SIM cards or live in certain areas. Employment opportunities are also heavily restricted, and are often limited to hard labour with low wages. In this latest push to remove them, Iranian authorities have also urged the public to report undocumented Afghans. "There are oppressors here, and there are oppressors there," a second Afghan in Iran said. "We migrants have never been free, never lived a free life." Another said "the future for Afghans living in Iran looks really bleak", adding: "The police are violent and humiliating, and now even the Basij [volunteer militia] have been tasked with arresting Afghans." The surge in repatriations comes after Pakistan accelerated its own drive to expel undocumented Afghans, saying it could no longer manage hosting them. Mr Jamal said the number of refugees returning to Afghanistan from both Iran and Pakistan this year was in excess of one million. While he thanked both nations for taking in millions of Afghans over the past few decades of instability, he urged them to seek a joint solution to the crisis. The UN director said humanitarian provisions at the border had been "overwhelmed", adding: "There is simply too many people coming back." Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy prime minister in the Taliban government, said on Saturday that talks with Iranian officials were under way over the issue. The Taliban's transport minister also said it was accelerating efforts to transport refugees from the border to their homes.

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