Focus on Afghan refugees

Afghan refugee Khoja Atif Hakim has lived in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, for more than four years and is more than ready to go back home. Standing at the registration point at Nijni Pyandhz, the southern border crossing with northern Afghanistan, he told IRIN he hoped to return to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “I was working in Mazar-e Sharif but left when the Taliban took control of the city in 1998. We feared for our lives,” he explained, saying that he had been responsible for collecting bodies after the bloody battle. But the journey home for Hakim will prove a long one, requiring a further six days to reach his town in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan. Since the repatriation programme started in May there has been a steady flow of returnees, with 423 Afghans leaving the country. “This is the sixth repatriation since we started. It has gone well so far,” protection officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Aurvasi Patel, told IRIN. According to a UNHCR survey, there are some 3,000 Afghans living in the country. Most are working in the trade sector, with a few holding government jobs as teachers or in the medical profession. The Afghans are transported to the border by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) with their belongings and then board a barge, which takes them across the 800 metre-wide river to the northern Afghan province of Konduz. "We want to ensure that all refugees are transported safely," IOM chief of mission for Tajikistan, Igor Bosc, told IRIN. "These refugees will have better opportunities in Afghanistan compared to those returning from Pakistan and Iran as they are more educated and are generally better off." The repatriation process has run smoothly, but there was a case in which money was taken from refugees travelling on the barge. “We have taken up this matter with the Russian border forces, the Tajik customs officials and the barge company. We will accompany the refugees over the crossing to ensure this does not happen again,” Patel said. When IRIN challenged border officials with this allegation, all three denied involvement. “We do not know anything about it. This has nothing to do with us,” a Russian border guard said. Once across the border, the refugees are transported by IOM to the centre of Konduz, taking with them a letter from UNHCR to present to their counterparts in Afghanistan. The letter entitles them to 100 kg of WFP wheat and cash assistance of between five and US $10 for transport inside Afghanistan. With the prospect of poor job opportunities, many refugees said they were hoping to find work or resume jobs they had before they left. However, they dismissed the fact that it was highly likely that these posts had already been filled. Women returnees were excited that they would be able to work again and seemed undeterred by the fact that they would still have to cover up. “I don’t mind wearing a burkha. We struggled so much in Tajikistan. I‘m just so happy to be home again,” 17-year-old Zohar told IRIN, as she covered herself with a burkha for the first time in years. At the Afghan border with Tajikistan, the governor of Konduz, Abdullah Ibrahimi, told IRIN that although local authorities were trying to accommodate the refugees, they were in desperate need of assistance. “Our main need is food,” he said. Asked whether he could ensure security for returnees, following reports of deteriorating conditions in the north, he replied: “We have 10,000 soldiers for Konduz and we have cleaned the streets of those unnecessarily armed.” Meanwhile, for those Afghans who’ve chosen to remain in Tajikistan there are serious protection concerns over their stay in the country. Patel said UNHCR was very concerned over the status of Afghan refugees. In February 2000, the Tajik government suspended the asylum procedure while reviewing the use of fake documents by refugees. “This was supposed to be a temporary move, but was never resumed,” she explained. Measures to make life difficult for Afghans did not stop there. In July 2000 the government adopted three resolutions, two of which have been branded detrimental to refugees and asylum seekers. The authorities released a list of countries from which asylum seekers would not be accepted. They include all of the Central Asian nations and neighbouring countries such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Under the implementation of another resolution, temporary residency of asylum seekers is prohibited and requires all Afghan refugees in urban centres to leave their homes for rural areas. However, following extensive negotiations between UNHCR and the authorities a verbal agreement was reached where this law would only apply to refugees arriving after July 2000. Since the agreement was made there have been no reports of forced removals, UN officials said. “They would have to start all over again in places where there are no economic opportunities and health and education facilities are poor,” protection assistant for UNHCR, Khurshed Yunusov, told IRIN in Dushanbe. There were some previous unsuccessful attempts by police to move the Afghans, he added. Throughout their stay, Afghan refugees have found it difficult to integrate into Tajik society. Asylum seekers are now asked to produce letters to confirm that they are residing in areas they have been permitted to live in before they can apply for asylum. There are also problems with marriages between Tajiks and Afghans, making it difficult for them to become Tajik citizens. “They cannot officially register marriages and require a letter from the Afghan authorities to confirm their marital status is single,” Yunusov explained. Furthermore, the government has been extremely slow in extending refugee status for the few Afghans who have managed to obtain it. Afghans can apply for citizenship after having lived in the country for two-and-a-half years. However, it has never been granted to one, he said. For those Afghans living in the capital, life has become increasingly difficult over the past year. A few months ago, the authorities closed down stalls operated by Afghans at one of the capital’s biggest markets. “The Afghans arrived at the market to find their stalls being demolished by a crane,” he explained. Some 52 stalls were destroyed. In another incident, police closed down an Afghan trading area near the railway station in Dushanbe and traders were told to move their goods to the outskirts of the city. "This is a very lucrative location for traders," Yunusov stressed. Despite the tough times in Tajikistan, Afghan refugees are expressing concern over the security situation in their homeland and are thinking twice before making the decision to return. The Afghan Refugee Committee in Dushanbe, set up in 1999, acts as a voice for its people in the former Soviet republic. The committee's chairman, Mohammed Akim Saddique, has been in Tajikistan for the past eight years and despite the difficulties, told IRIN he had no intention of returning home just yet. “People started returning when Karzai took over, but we know it is not safe to go back yet, especially to the north,” he said. Other Afghans in Dushanbe were more frank about their fears. Mabub, a former general who had worked under the Afghan leader Najibullah, raised concerns over the safety of those who had worked under that leadership. “For us, going back to Afghanistan would be like committing suicide,” he told IRIN.