UAE detaining over 2,500 Afghan evacuees: HRW
5 Min Read
Human Rights Watch accuses the UAE of detaining more than 2,500 Afghans after they were evacuated from their country in the midst of the US withdrawal.
-
Hundreds of people gather near a US Air Force C-17 transport plane at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 16, 2021 (AP)
For more than 15 months, UAE authorities have been arbitrarily detaining as many as 2,700 Afghan evacuees that have no legal pathways to refugee status or resettlement elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
Many Afghans housed in the Emirates Humanitarian City, a proclaimed humanitarian organization, are suffering from depression, among other psychological issues, do not have access to legal counsel, and do not have access to adequate educational services for their children, the Human Rights Watch report read.
According to HRW, the US State Department official in charge of the relocation of Afghans said Washington's commitment to resettling eligible Afghans was an "enduring one", including those in Emirates Humanitarian City.
The UAE offered to temporarily host thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw the Taliban taking over the country in August 2021, local officials have said.
Furthermore, they added that the country was committed to ensuring that the Afghans were safe, secure, and had their dignity safeguards, stressing that Abu Dhabi was working closely with the United States on their resettlement.
Thousands of Afghans were flown into the UAE in the wake of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan by private evacuation organizations and the Emirati military. Once the US left, numerous private organizations continued to charter evacuation flights.
Pending resettlement in the United States, Canada, and other countries, many evacuees were housed in the Emirates Humanitarian City and Tasameem Workers City, both of which were apartment complexes that were converted into refugee housing.
Somewhere between 2,500 and 2,700 Afghans did not qualify for resettlement, and they have been in arbitrary detention since January 2023, the report said.
"Emirati authorities have kept thousands of Afghan asylum seekers locked up for over 15 months in cramped, miserable conditions with no hope of progress on their cases," said Joey Shea, Human Rights Watch's UAE researcher.
Sixteen Afghans that HRW interviewed late last year said they could not leave the site whenever they wished, with security guards or minders keeping an eye on them during hospital visits, as well as during the only shopping mall visit they had been permitted.
UAE authorities are not abiding by international law or UN guidelines for dealing with asylum seekers and migrants, making their detention "arbitrary", HRW argued.
The UAE, moreover, is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention.
The organization went on to urge Abu Dhabi to immediately release the Afghan evacuees and allow them to access fair, individualized processing in order to have their refugee status and protection requirements determined.
The organization also asked Abu Dhabi to permit the Afghans to live wherever they wanted until their cases are resolved.
Finally, the organization called on the State Department to use its leverage to work on the release of the Afghans and expedite any applications for asylum or humanitarian parole.
Afghans also suffering in the UK
Similarly, hundreds of Afghan refugees who arrived in London 18 months ago have been told they have only weeks to uproot their families and relocate 200 miles away, The Guardian reported in February.
The Home Office informed 40 families with 150 children who have lived in Kensington, west London, for more than a year that they must leave the capital for another hotel in Wetherby, on the outskirts of Leeds.
Some refugees, including a former Afghan commander and former British army translators, said they would refuse to go because their children, who have already been traumatized by conflict and displacement, will suffer worse if they are forced to drop out of school.
An estimated 9,000 Afghans remain in temporary housing in the United Kingdom after Western occupation forces withdrew from their home country in August 2021, and the Taliban took power. Many of those who helped the West throughout the war are still stuck in Afghanistan pending the processing of their special immigration visa applications.
The US itself resettled more than 88,000 Afghans who were evacuated in the midst of and after the US withdrawal from the country.
The US House held last Wednesday its first hearing to review President Biden's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in August 2021. The hearing showed a gap between the Republicans and Democrats regarding their evaluation of Biden's decision.
"What happened in Afghanistan was a systemic breakdown of the federal government at every level - and a stunning, stunning failure of leadership by the Biden administration," House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Republican Michael McCaul said during the hearing.
He continues to accuse Biden's administration of breaching its obligation to protect US citizens since over a thousand Americans were left behind in the said situation.
