UN Call Upon Pakistan to Halt Forced Deportations of Afghans
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\nThe UN refugee agency has again voiced concern over Pakistan\u2019s forced deportation of Afghan nationals and asylum seekers, urging that any returns should be voluntary, safe and dignified. Border reports show returns have surged since Islamabad\u2019s deadline expired.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s Dawn newspaper reported that local officials at the Hamza Baba transit point in Landi Kotal said daily returns of Afghans had exceeded 10,000 after the government ordered all Afghan nationals to leave the country by July 10. According to the officials, the figure is nearly three times higher than in May and June.<\/p>\n
Qaiser Khan Afridi, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan, thanked Pakistan for hosting Afghan refugees for decades but stressed that no refugee should be returned to a country where their life or freedom would be at risk.<\/p>\n
He said UNHCR was particularly concerned about women forced to return to a country where their human rights faced serious threats.<\/p>\n
Afridi urged the Pakistani government to ensure that any returns of Afghan nationals were carried out on a voluntary, safe and dignified basis.<\/p>\n
Border officials in Landi Kotal and Torkham said fears of arrest and deportation had prompted thousands of Afghans, both documented and undocumented, to head towards the border crossings. They said the number of returnees was expected to rise further as Pakistan fully implements its deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
According to UN figures, around 2.56 million Afghan nationals have returned to Afghanistan since Pakistan launched its campaign to expel undocumented foreigners in November 2023. Of those, about 260,000 were deported by Pakistan\u2019s immigration authorities for lacking valid documents. Around 900,000 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers remain in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
UNHCR has called on Pakistan to exempt Afghans with urgent international protection needs from deportation. These include female heads of household, girls and women studying in Pakistani educational institutions, ethnic and religious minorities, human rights defenders, journalists, civil society activists, and artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UN Call Upon Pakistan to Halt Forced Deportations of Afghans ————————— The UN refugee agency has again voiced concern over Pakistan\u2019s forced deportation of Afghan nationals and asylum seekers, urging that any returns should be voluntary, safe and dignified. Border reports show returns have surged since Islamabad\u2019s deadline expired. Pakistan\u2019s Dawn newspaper reported that local …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iraq"],"yoast_head":"\n