JAC-R condemns Afghan refugees forced return from Pakistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Joint Action Committee for Refugees (JAC-R) has strongly condemned the decision of the Government of Pakistan to begin the second phase of repatriation of Afghan Refugees right after Eid on April 15th 2024, a statement said on Friday.

“We strongly condemn the continued inhumane and illegal deportation of Afghan refugees and migrants from Pakistan, the decision of the newly elected government to continue to uproot the lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees is not only unconstitutional but also violates several international laws,” reads the JAC-R statement.

The statement underlined that Afghanistan was currently under dictatorial and unelected Taliban rule so many of the refugees, migrants, and citizens belonging to the Khwajasira community, the Hazara and Christian community, are human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, artists, folk musicians, and employees of the former Afghan government.

“All of these groups are at risk of near certain death if forced to return. Women no longer have the right to work or study in Afghanistan; by forcibly sending them back we would expose them to gross human rights violations,” said the statement.

JAC-R statement made the following demands:

1. Stop the illegal deportations and detentions of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers across Pakistan until the matter has been decided by the Court.
2.         POR cards must be renewed, and Afghans who fled the Taliban in August 2021 must be provided documents expediently.
3.         National human rights institutions including the NCHR, SCSW, and NCRC must intervene to stop the enforced repatriation in order to practice their mandate to protect human rights.
4.         A group of civil society, lawyers, and journalists must be allowed inside the illegal detention centers being set up by the  government to document the rights of all those detained.
5.         A national legal framework for the protection of refugees must be developed and passed by an elected parliament.
6.         The state of Pakistan must ratify the Geneva Convention of 1951 on the status of refugees.

Pr/nh