Kyrgyzstan unprepared for refugee influx

Officials fear that Kyrgyzstan could be on the receiving end of a massive influx of Afghan and Tajik refugees should the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan continue unchecked. While the country has developed contingency plans to deal with possible refugee influxes, officials maintain that the country has extremely limited resources available to cope. "We expect a growing wave of Afghan refugees from Tajikistan, Iran and Pakistan to reach Kyrgyzstan, but this country has no means to take more refugees," Talaybek Kydyrov, director of the Bishkek Migration Management Centre, told IRIN on Friday. Even though Kyrgyzstan does not border Afghanistan, it is located in the heart of Central Asia, and is easily accessible from Uzbekistan or Tajikistan. Both these countries border Afghanistan, and are particularly vulnerable to a refugee influx from the northern provinces of Balkh, Kunduz and Takhar, where fighting between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban regime continues. Kydyrov said that even with closed borders, Afghan refugees were able to travel throughout the region. "They buy Pakistani passports, or they use high mountain paths. Kyrgyzstan is not able to completely control its border with Tajikistan, from where most refugees are likely to cross," he said. Tajikistan already hosts an estimated 20,000 Afghan refugees, with a further 10,000 stuck on islands in the Pyandzh river along the Afghan border. There was also concern that drought-affected Tajiks may also attempt to cross the border in the event of a large movement of Afghans northwards. Some experts predict that refugees are unlikely to arrive before winter, as high mountain passes will soon be inaccessible. Bazarkul Kerimbaeva, head of the Refugees Office for the Kyrgyz Migration Department, told IRIN on Wednesday that he did not expect new refugees to arrive in Kyrgyzstan before spring. But Kydyrov warned that the situation in Afghanistan was becoming desperate, and refugees may not wait. "Border guards are people. Do you think they will shoot at starving women, children and young people who try to cross the border? We simply cannot contain those refugees, and they will be here soon," he said. Due to its more lenient policies, Kyrgyzstan has been favoured in the past by refugees. With the support of UNHCR and the Red Cross/Red Crescent, the country provides legal support and free medical care for most of its 11,000 refugees. However, the status and situation of refugees varies dramatically in the region. Central Asian states are divided over the issue and lack proper funds to implement the processing and registration structures necessary to handle a large number of refugees. "What we might experience is a flow of refugees from hosting countries, such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, because they have a very different refugee policy," explained Kerimbaeva. Kerimbaeva considered regional coordination was crucial. Unlike Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan has not developed an emergency refugee crisis plan. Kazakhstan has created a migration authority, but is still debating a crisis plan. "We need to cooperate at a regional level, because refugees are now a Central Asian issue, which cannot be solved at a national level. We need something like Europe’s Schengen agreement. Yet Uzbekistan is not participating in our regional forum on migration issues, and Turkmenistan takes part in very few projects. Cooperation works effectively only among Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan," Kydyrov told IRIN. Efforts by the Kyrgyz authorities to take emergency preparedness measures, such as preparing refugee camps, setting up additional checkpoints and processing centers on borders, has been hampered by a lack of funds. Rudimentary tenting is in place in the southern Osh Region, but no other facilities have been set up. Kyrdyov said that five to 10 refugees were arriving per week. "What will happen if hundreds or thousands get to the border? Who will register, filter them? Where will we put them? The European Union should provide more finances, because in the end, Afghan refugees are aiming for western Europe," he warned.