Int’l, Afghan groups urge Pakistan to stop deportation of Afghans

By Tahir Khan

ISLAMABAD: Several international and Afghan groups have shown concerns at the recent “acceleration in the mass deportation” of Afghans from Pakistan, including at-risk writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others at “risk of persecution from the Taliban for their peaceful expression.

The PEN International, which promotes freedom of expression and defends writers at risk at national, regional and international levels, led a joint statement, signed by freedom of expression and human rights organisations, urging Pakistan to halt forced deportation of vulnerable Afghans.

“We, the undersigned organisations, call on the government of Pakistan to immediately halt the arbitrary mass deportation of Afghan nationals in line with the country’s human rights obligations, including the principle of non-refoulement,” said the statement.

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The groups urged the international community to continue to provide safety to ‘at-risk’ Afghans, including writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others who fled the Taliban’s persecution.

It said the government of Pakistan’s decision to arbitrarily deport Afghan nationals, officially referred to ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’, was publicly announced on October 3, 2023 and drew significant concern at the time from organisations and international institutions including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration, who urged the government to continue to protect at-risk Afghans.

“Despite the UNHCR’s active non-return advisory for Afghanistan and calls from UN experts to halt the deportations, the government of Pakistan has accelerated its forced returns in recent months, resulting in over 30,000 deportations in April alone,” according to the statement.

The statement said, “included among those deported who are at greatest risk of persecution are writers, journalists, artists, and human rights defenders who continue to face significant threats of arbitrary arrest, torture and imprisonment for any form of expression that the Taliban deem incompatible with their ideology”, adding Women and girls deported to Afghanistan will face overwhelming levels of repression impacting every aspect of their lives, amounting to what UN experts have described as ‘gender apartheid’.

The statement pointed out that many of those who fled across the border into Pakistan following the Taliban’s return to de facto rule in August 2021 had planned to travel onwards to a country of safety. However, the suspension of humanitarian visa pathways and inadequate support for at-risk Afghans in countries around the world, including the US, the UK and Germany, has left many stranded in a situation of abject precarity and insecurity.

For the over one million Afghan refugees and asylum seekers who remain in Pakistan, the intensifying crackdown by Pakistani authorities, which includes mass arrests and other forms of harassment, has instilled a renewed sense of fear in a community already blighted by conflict and marginalisation.

In light of the severe risk posed by the Taliban, the undersigned organisations call on the government of Pakistan to immediately suspend its ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’. We also call on the international community to ensure safe and legal passage for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, including writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders, and others at risk of persecution for their peaceful expression.

The statement has been signed by the Afghan Journalists in Exile in North America and Europe (AJE); Artists at Risk Connection (ARC); Committee to Protect Journalists; Free Press Unlimited Front Line Defenders; Index on Censorship; International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN); NAI Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan (NAI-SOMA); PEN Afghanistan; PEN America; PEN Germany; PEN International; PEN Norway; Reporters without borders (RSF) and the International Association of Women in Radio & Television (IAWRT)