Criticism of a collective deportation to Afghanistan from Dusseldorf

In the light of dramatic new figures on flight and growing insecurity in Afghanistan, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) criticizes a collective deportation of Afghan refugees, which is scheduled for Tuesday. “It’s just wishful thinking if the German authorities claim that Afghanistan is safe. Over the course of 2017, the number of Afghan people on the run has increased by an average of 1,200 people every day. Around 70 percent of the country is controlled by warlords and Islamist extremists. Latest statistics show that about three-quarters of all refugees returning to Afghanistan were forced to flee from violence again within a few months,” stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Monday. “The figures on flight and violence in Afghanistan are terrible. The plain facts are far more convincing than Sunday speeches by politicians who are trying to sugarcoat the situation in Afghanistan.”

According to a study that was published (in January 2018) by the Norwegian Refugee Council – which is led by former UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Egeland – about 50 Afghans are forced to flee from violence every hour, statistically. Further, the non-governmental organization stated that around 72 percent of the refugees who were sent back to the country are on the run again. Some of the approximately 300,000 Afghans who were sent back during the past five years were forced to flee several times already. 

According to UN figures, a total number of 471,677 people from 31 of the country’s 34 provinces had to flee because of politically motivated violence in 2017. Thus, the number of internally displaced persons is now about four times as high as it was five years ago. About 7,000 Afghans were forced to flee due to fighting and attacks in January 2018 alone.

“The dramatic deterioration in the security situation is also reflected in the growing number of attacks against aid workers,” said Delius. With 388 registered incidents, the number of attacks against helpers had almost doubled in 2017, compared to the previous year (200 attacks). Last year, 21 helpers were killed, 33 were injured, and 149 aid workers were kidnapped.

“The United Nations are being more realistic than German politics. In 2017, Afghanistan’s status was changed from a country in a post-conflict situation to a civil war state,” said Delius. “This is not exactly encouraging, but at least honest.”

Header Photo: Violaine Martin via UN Photo