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Safe Refuge for Afghan Refugees
The right of a refugee not to be returned to a country where his or her life or freedom is threatened is a fundamental principle of international customary law and is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Iran,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and China are all parties.
Key Facts
- As of the third week of September there were close to one million Afghans who were displaced inside their own country. These people and all Afghans are suffering from the lack of humanitarian assistance to the country and are facing dire famine conditions.
- Some 3.7 million Afghan refugees who have fled the conflict in Afghanistan over the past two decades are currently living in neighboring countries - 1.5 million of them in Iran, and more than 2 million in Pakistan.
- As of the third week of September all neighboring countries have closed their borders with Afghanistan.
- In addition, some 10,000-20,000 people are waiting to be able to seek protection and assistance by crossing Pakistan's border near Chaman. About half of these people are waiting at the border without any shelter.
- Since the Tajik government closed its borders a year ago and stationed 10,000 Russian troops at the border to prevent refugees from entering, an estimated 10,000 Afghan refugees, including thousands of women and children, have been camped on several islands in the Pyanj River at the Tajikistan border.
Human Rights Watch Recommendations
In order to safeguard the lives of Afghan civilians and refugees, Human Rights Watch makes the following urgent recommendations:
- All neighboring countries and countries in the region should reopen their borders to refugees from Afghanistan;
- As a matter of urgency, host and donor governments, and United Nations agencies should develop a coordinated strategy to effectively identify and separate militants and armed elements from civilian refugees. Separation should take place inside host countries at the border and involve an international monitoring presence;
- Camps, safe havens, or humanitarian zones within Afghanistan should not be established. Instead, all refugees should be permitted into neighboring states;
- Governments outside the region, particularly industrialized states, should explore emergency resettlement possibilities for Afghan refugees;
- Tougher immigration controls in countries outside the region, particularly industrialized states, should not infringe on the rights of all asylum seekers to access fair and efficient asylum determination procedures, nor should they result in arbitrary or indefinite detention, or the return of asylum seekers and refugees to countries where they face persecution;
- Donor governments should urgently provide international assistance to neighboring countries and countries in the region to cope with the potential outflow of refugees from Afghanistan; and
- Donor governments and international relief agencies should take all steps possible to ensure that adequate humanitarian assistance reaches all affected civilians inside Afghanistan, especially the internally displaced.
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Afghanistan: Human Rights Watch Key Documents
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Overview of Human Rights Developments in
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September 27, 2001
September 11 Attacks: Crimes Against Humanity
The Aftermath
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