Afghan Returns Top 1 Million This Year
More than 1 million Afghans returned to their home country this year, amid mounting pressure from neighboring Pakistan and Iran to repatriate them in addition to similar efforts in Europe.
Some 390,000 registered refugees left Pakistan and Iran under a United Nations voluntary repatriation initiative, and 620,000 other Afghans also returned to the country, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Among them, 174,000 Afghans were deported from Iran, and 22,000 from Pakistan.
Human rights advocates say that the mass return of Afghans from Pakistan has been achieved through coercion, including police harassment and the threat of deportation.
Meanwhile, more than 6,000 Afghans returned from Europe this year, according to the IOM. Europe struck a deal with Afghanistan last month to speed up the return of Afghans who have not been granted asylum on the continent.
A million returns is a “very large figure for a country which is in a volatile situation when it comes to security and also in terms of economic opportunities for those to be reabsorbed in a very short time,” said Laurence Hart, the IOM chief of mission in Kabul.
E.U. Rift Over Asylum Proposals
Slovakia have presented a proposal for the voluntary redistribution of asylum seekers in Europe, but it was criticized as inadequate by the countries sheltering the most refugees.
Under Slovakia’s plan, E.U. member states would offer funds, resources for policing borders, or accept more responsibility for deporting failed asylum seekers in lieu of accepting their quota of refugees, according to Reuters. The plan would also make voluntary the emergency measures adopted in response to a major influx of refugees.
Slovakia, which currently chairs the European Union, is supported by other Eastern European states. including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, in rejecting asylum quotas. But Germany and Sweden, which have taken in large numbers of asylum seekers, as well as frontline states such as Malta and Italy, say the system needs to be mandatory to be effective.
Last year, the E.U. agreed to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy; only about 7,500 people have been relocated so far.
Tensions Rise at Greek Island Camps
Migrants and asylum seekers stranded on the Greek island of Chios clashed with police and local residents in a night of violence that led to 37 arrests.
Greek authorities said the unrest started when migrants from the Chios camp broke into a liquor outlet and fireworks store, and were then confronted by island residents. Next morning, a tent in Chios was set ablaze, prompting allegations of a firebomb attack on the camp, which houses 2,300 people.
Frustration is growing among thousands of people stuck in camps on the Greek islands as they face long delays to their asylum claims being processed or to their deportation to Turkey.
This week, Belgium said it was withdrawing its asylum experts from the Greek islands because of the security situation, and urged Europe to speed up asylum procedures and deportations.
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