Following the Pakistani government's announcement to deport refugees from Afghanistan without residence status, more than 300,000 people have already left the country for Afghanistan, according to local authorities. A total of 1.7 million people are at risk of deportation. Misereor partners report on the appalling plight in overcrowded Afghan refugee camps, where more and more people are arriving from Pakistan.
"Deporting people right now is particularly cruel," explains Anna Dirksmeier, Afghanistan expert at Misereor. "Winter has begun, temperatures are expected to drop into double figures for a long time and there is a lack of everything: sufficient tents, blankets and warm clothing. People from warmer regions of Pakistan often arrive with only sandals and light summer clothing. If help does not arrive quickly, we will experience massive frostbite and a humanitarian catastrophe. Our Afghan project partners are afraid of survival battles that could turn violent," says Dirksmeier. In this situation, Misereor is initially providing 100,000 euros to a local partner organisation in the Herat region, which is supplying the refugees with food, water, blankets and tents.
The deported people are returning to Afghanistan, a desperately poor country where over 90% of the population is dependent on humanitarian aid. The World Food Programme for food aid on the ground is massively underfunded. The existing refugee camps are already overcrowded and can no longer accommodate the large numbers of people. Misereor partners fear that protests are to be expected from the villages in Afghanistan where they are being forcibly resettled. There, they are competing with the local population, who are also fighting for survival.
German responsibility: Opposition members who have fled to Pakistan and threatened ex-local forces from Afghanistan in mortal danger
"We appeal to the German government to increase aid funds for Afghanistan and to campaign internationally for an increase in the UN World Food Programme in Afghanistan and further humanitarian aid. In addition, political pressure must be increased on Pakistan to suspend deportations at this time for humanitarian reasons and to grant longer deadlines. There are still thousands of former Afghan opposition members and their relatives in Pakistan, as well as local German staff who had fled to Pakistan and are entitled to leave for Germany under the Federal Reception Programme. "If these people are now deported back to Afghanistan, their lives will be in acute danger. Germany has a great political responsibility here," says Dirksmeier.
Misereor is urgently asking people in Germany to support the refugees in Afghanistan.
Keyword: Afghanistan
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