Brussels, Belgium , October 6, 2016 — Speaking after the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan this week, Imogen Sudbery, Head of the Brussels Office of the International Rescue Committee said:
“The Joint Way Forward, agreed and signed in Brussels this week, is worrying on several levels. Most alarming is that fact the deal was done in secrecy, made public only by a leak to the press. Deals made behind closed doors, thrashed out with no civil society engagement and without apparent consideration for people’s safety, nor the realities on the ground, set an alarming precedent for the EU.
The notion that vulnerable women and children can be sent back to a place of war is preposterous. The Taliban are at their strongest since 2001, with rising tides of violence penalizing one of the most beleaguered populations in the world.
In 2015 there were 11,000 civilian casualties in Afghanistan. 1.2 million people are internally displaced. Afghans make up the second largest group arriving in Europe, after Syrians, and a further 2.7 million Afghan refugees are being hosted by Pakistan and Iran – with hundreds of thousands more unregistered.
Afghanistan cannot be considered a ‘safe country’.
We warmly welcome renewed commitment to aid funding for Afghanistan. But making support to the people there dependent on the government’s ability to stem migration flows is not a strategic approach to help ensure stability and long term development.
Perhaps the most damning clause in this deal is the agreement to ‘repatriate’ unaccompanied minors. This vulnerable group is protected under international law, yet the proposal paves the way for the return of youths even where families are not traceable, leaving it up to the state to provide ‘proper facilities and care’. It is unclear how the EU will measure or verify this level of provision.
Europe is duty bound to ensure there are sound and accountable measures in place so that all returnees are afforded due protection. To fail in that would be to make a mockery of European values.”