UN organization: Deportations to Afghanistan-return without perspective

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is critical of deportations to Afghanistan. Many of the forced people would be extremely difficult with the fresh start in their old homeland, says the head of the IOM operation in Afghanistan, Mihyung Park, the German Press Agency.

It is not for nothing that Afghanistan is currently on the list of states, for which IOM has temporarily exposed or restricted their support for voluntary return.

Difficult situation for deported in Afghanistan

Park says: “Some of these people have never lived there about those who are deported to Afghanistan from Pakistan or Iran.” Others, to finance their escape or emigration, sold houses and land, some of them, some of them, and are therefore now before nothing. Women is also systematically denied access to the labor market and to higher educational qualifications.

In addition, there are people who had leading positions in the government apparatus because of their work before the change of power in Kabul or fear persecution by the Islamist Taliban because of their work as journalists.

“Reception centers” at border crossings

Park, which claims to have spoken to government officials from the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the past few days in Berlin, praises the support of Germany and the European Union for the United Nations, the returnees to Afghanistan at the various border crossings in so -called reception centers.

This includes cash, for example, to finance at least the onward journey to the destination within Afghanistan. Non -governmental organizations are also active there.

No more development aid from the USA

But the South Korean also sees problems: the change of course in the White House has eliminated the most important donor. Due to current geopolitical risks, other donor countries invested more in defense and saved in development cooperation.

In addition, Germany and other encoders would have made strict guidelines for their work in Afghanistan because they do not want to recognize the de facto powerkeepers in Kabul.

She gives an example: The DE-FACTO government has only a few old computers and printers for registration of the returnees at the border crossings. This means that the process is often associated with very long waiting times for the already exhausted people. “But the donors do not allow us to buy computers for them.”

According to the park, the UN organizations do not compromise when it comes to the employment of women-even if this always leads to disputes with the rulers and women have to be accompanied to work by a male relative.

At least two positive developments can be observed, says the IOM representative: International aid organizations now have access to all the provinces of the country, and the security situation is significantly better than five years ago.

Deport of Pakistan – despite German entrance programs

Most of the deportations of Afghans have existed from Pakistan and Iran since the beginning of 2023. Against their will back to Afghanistan, several of the more than 2,000 people from various German entrance programs that had previously been in Pakistan were recently.

They are former local forces or are particularly at risk. Since the German embassy in Kabul has been closed to the Taliban in August 2021 since the case of Afghanistan, they run through a test procedure in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

More than 200 of them were arrested by the Pakistani authorities in August and brought to the Afghan border. There were also indications of further arrests. Foreign Minister Johann WadePhul (CDU) campaigned for this to no longer happen. A spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said on Friday: “There is a consensus with the Pakistani government to complete the admission proceedings until the end of the year.”

At the beginning of the month, 47 Afghans came to Germany with a recording commitment via regular flight via Istanbul. They had previously complained to issue a visa.

Turkey also pushes Afghans off

There are also regular charter flights with Afghans on board from Turkey. According to the Turkish authorities, these people, who were usually taken up without valid residence papers and then accommodated in closed centers, travel voluntarily according to the Turkish authorities. However, non -governmental organization such as the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) assess the process differently.

The ECRE reports that last year 65,815 Afghans were arrested as irregular migrants in Turkey. This year it was 16,268 citizens of Afghanistan until May 8.

Many of the Afghans who live in Turkish cities work there with the aim of earning enough money to continue traveling to Europe with a smuggler. In this respect, the EU is generally not unhappy that Turkey ensures that every year a few thousand Afghans return to its country of origin.

IOM expects around three million returnees this year

The boss of IOM-Afghanistan reports that this year Pakistan and Iran have returned a total of around two million people to Afghanistan. For the full year, around three million returnees are expected.

It was very difficult in July when the end of a departure period for Afghans without a residence permit with the attacks of Israel to Iran broke up with the Iranian authorities. In July, between 30,000 and 40,000 people came across the border every day – “that cannot be mastered,” says Park. There are currently fewer than 10,000 a day.

Hardly any deportations from Germany – so far

From Germany, only male criminals were deported to Afghanistan recently – and that also only sporadically. Since the Taliban take over again in August 2021, two collecting deportations have been organized with the help of Qatar.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) wants to ensure that deportations to Afghanistan will take place more often in the future. His ministry leaves open whether this will be organized again with the support of the Gulf State of Qatar.

Afghanistan is currently the main country of origin of people who apply for asylum in Germany. Because girls and women in Afghanistan are systematically dismissed, they actually had the most reason to leave the country. Missing resources and additional dangers for female refugees, however, ensure that younger men in particular make their way, often combined with the order to send money home.

In Germany, the Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) decided in the first half of this year over 23,114 asylum applications of Afghan men and boys and 5,781 requests from girls and women from Afghanistan. According to the Federal Government, the applicants were awarded asylum authorization or refugee protection much more often than male Afghans.