The past year was tumultuous for the Afghan refugees living in the neighboring countries with hundreds of thousands of them forced to leave their host countries.
The Afghan refugees also faced harassment and mistreatment in countries like Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
In early October, Pakistan announced a one-month deadline for 1.73 million undocumented Afghan refugees to leave.
Following the deadline, Pakistan’s caretaker government escalated deportation of tens of thousands of Afghans.
The Pakistani Interior Minister, Sarfraz Bugti, said in early October: “There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us. We have evidence.”
Pakistan’s decision however faced international reactions and many human rights watchdogs including the UN called on Islamabad to reconsider its decision.
“The Pakistani police have mistreated Afghan refugees, and the government has ordered shops to be evacuated and even ordered that homes should not be provided to Afghan migrants,” Hadisa, an Afghan migrant in Pakistan told TOLOnews on October 26.
“Everyone is at home. Even the [refugees] cannot go out to purchase their basic needs including food because if they are detained and deported, it will cause them problems,” Sial Mohammad Wisal, a member of the Afghan refugee’s council, said at the time.
On November 1, 2023, the Islamic Emirate emphasized that the decision of the interim government of Pakistan will damage relations between the two countries.
“The issue of refugees is the issue with which Afghanistan suffers and the people of Afghanistan are suffering, and it also damages the relations between the two countries.
We have asked the government authorities in Pakistan to take the issue seriously and understand the consequences,” Mujahid said.
Despite consecutive calls on Pakistan to stop deporting Afghan refugees, Islamabad escalated its efforts to force undocumented Afghans off of its soil.
Over 100,000 Afghan refugees were deported to Afghanistan on November 1, when the deadline expired.
“Around 50 people were going in this truck. It has been hired by 6 families for Rs. 2, 20, 000. We had no time to bargain because the CDA was pushing us,” said Khial Gul, an Afghan refugee, who was quoted by Reuters.
The Islamic Emirate’s Prime Minister, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, reacted then to the expulsion of Afghan refugees by Pakistan, saying that the action is against international laws.
In a video message, PM Akhund called on Pakistan to not “expel Afghans in an undignified manner, to not harass Afghans and to give them sufficient time so that they can return in a dignified manner.”
In November, the US Department of State’s spokesman, Matthew Miller, in reaction to the forced deportation of Afghans, asked Pakistan to uphold its obligations in the treatment of refugees and respect the principle of non-refoulement.
“So we join all of our partners in urging every state, including Pakistan, to uphold their respective obligations in their treatment of refugees and asylum [seekers], and to respect the principle of non-refoulement. We strongly encourage Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan, to allow entry for Afghans seeking international protection and to coordinate with international humanitarian organizations to provide humanitarian assistance,” Miller said.
The United Nations said that the organization is concerned about this forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, in a press conference said: “we’re very concerned about this forced movement of people, many of whom are very likely refugees to a country that by most accounts isn’t ready to welcome them back, in a sense; and given the state of not only the humanitarian situation, but of course, first and foremost, the human rights situation. But, I know this is an issue that our colleagues in UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees] and other humanitarian organizations are engaging with the Pakistani authorities.”
However, Pakistan was not the only country which forcefully deported many Afghans, Iran and Turkey also caused severe challenges for the Afghan refugees based on their territory.
In November TOLOnews interviewed Nazia, a mother of three children, who said then that she has recently been deported from Iran. Nazia said that her husband also was arrested by Iranian police.
“They took six million [Iranian currency] from us in Iran. They brought us near the Balochistan province, and we came so far through private transportation,” she said.
According to the data of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, approximately 7 million Afghans are living in the neighboring countries and around 1 million in Europe.
In 2023, the data shows that around 1.5 million Afghan refugees have returned to the country, most of them deported.
In mid-December, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, asked the United Nations to facilitate the return of Afghan refugees to their country.
Abdollahian in this forum added that Iran has been hosting Afghan refugees for more than 45 years and asked the United Nations to cooperate with Iran in the return of these migrants to their country.
Abdollahian said: “As you know, it has been more than 45 years that the Islamic Republic of Iran has hosted the longest refugee situation, and now, after the political changes in Afghanistan in 2021, my country hosts the largest displaced population in the world.”
The acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who visited Iran last Week to participate at the consultative and political meeting held on the situation of Palestinian, met with Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, to discuss the diplomatic ties between the two countries, the situation and problems of Afghan prisoners and refugees.
Meanwhile, the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have published a joint report saying more than 30,000 undocumented refugees have been detained in Pakistan in 2023.
