Housing rights body condemns Islamabad on Nasir Bagh

While Afghans facing eviction from the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province continued to return to their war-torn homeland on Tuesday, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), has condemned the Pakistani government for its hardening stance towards Afghan refugees. An international human rights organisation mandated to protect and promote housing rights throughout the world, COHRE maintains that Pakistan ultimately bears responsibility for the safety of the returnees, and called upon Pakistan to pay due compensation to Afghans living in Nasir Bagh. “Justice demands that any refugee compelled by the Government of Pakistan to return to Afghanistan should receive compensation,” COHRE legal officer of the Geneva-based NGO, Bret Thiele, told IRIN on Monday. “Indeed, to do otherwise, the Government of Pakistan will be in violation of international human rights law.” According to Thiele, although Pakistan has yet to ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, it is bound, as a member of the United Nations, by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration is not only considered customary international law, but lays down that the human rights specified in the preamble and articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter, be universally respected, promoted, and observed. Article 12 of the declaration provides that “no one should be subjected to arbitrary interference with his... home”, and Article 17 (2) provides that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property”. Furthermore, it guarantees the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, thereby protecting the right of Afghan refugees of access to an effective remedy. Thiele explained that there had been numerous reports of “state-sponsored harassment of, and discrimination against, Afghan refugees.” He maintained that, rather than guaranteeing “the right to seek and to enjoy... asylum from persecution”, as required under the declaration, Islamabad had “intentionally created an environment designed to result in the de facto expulsion of Afghan refugees”. Located in the provincial capital, Peshawar, Nasir Bagh remains a contentious issue between Pakistani authorities, UNHCR and the nearly 120,000 residents of the community. Established in the early 1980s following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the camp is now one of the largest and most self-sufficient Afghan communities in the country. Many have built homes and livelihoods there, but now face imminent eviction after government officials announced plans to raze the camp to make room for a new housing estate. Asked to comment on the issue of compensation for residents there, Thiele said the de facto expulsion of the Afghani refugees “constitutes action by the Government of Pakistan which interferes with their homes and deprives them of their property”. He added that under universally accepted principles of international law, even if such interference and deprivation was justified, Islamabad must provide just compensation for the lost housing and other property. COHRE believes that voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced people, when done in safety and dignity, is one of the best and most durable solutions to the problem of displacement. Thiele said the current situation faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan, however, called the voluntary nature of their return into question. He added that as people who fled Afghanistan, the returnees were in danger of being perceived by the ruling Taliban regime as being disloyal. As such, they may have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their political opinion, imputed or not, as well as their membership of a particular social group - namely that of returning refugees. In addition, women forced to return to Afghanistan faced increased risks due to gender oppression and gender-specific violence, he added. “That the Taliban regime is oppressive is without question; thus the Government of Pakistan, which ultimately bears responsibility for the safety of the returnees, places the expelled refugees at grave risk,” Thiele argued. Meanwhile, UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler confirmed to IRIN that another 87 families (470 people) left Nasir Bagh for Afghanistan on Tuesday as part of the UNHCR-facilitated repatriation programme. This was the second group of Afghans from the camp to return following the first group of 39 families on 5 July. Kessler confirmed that the next group scheduled to leave would do so on Wednesday. The UN estimates there are some two million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan today, and the government has called on the world body to facilitate their return. Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told IRIN in an interview earlier this year that the country could no longer shoulder the burden alone, and called on other countries to share the responsibility.