Pen International, an association of writers, asked the Government to immediately stop the mass deportation of Pakistan Afghan, including writers, journalists and others at risk of persecution of the Taliban, according to a statement.
As of May 18, a total of 55,865 Afghan nationals, including 35,975 owners of ACC and 19,890 illegal migrants have gone to Afghanistan since April 1, the day the second phase began after the deadline for the repatriation of registered Afghan nationals that ended on March 31.
The joint declaration led by Pen International, signed by freedom of expression and human rights organizations, refers to the recent acceleration in the mass deportation of Pakistan Afghans, including writers at risk, journalists, artists, defenders of human rights and others at risk of persecution of the Taliban for their peaceful expression.
More than a dozen organizations asked the Government to “immediately stop the arbitrary mass deportation of Afghan nationals in line with the country’s human rights obligations, including the principle of not restarting again.
“We urge the international community to continue providing security to Afghans at risk, including writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others who fled the persecution of the Taliban,” said Pen International.
He pointed out that the government’s decision to deport Afghan citizens, announced on October 3, 2023, attracted “significant concern” of international institutions, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Migration Organization, which urged the Government to continue protecting Afghans at risk.
“Despite the active notice of UNHCR without return for Afghanistan and the calls of UN experts to stop deportations, the Pakistan government has accelerated its forced yields in recent months, resulting in more than 30,000 deportations only in April,” the statement said.
“They are included among the deportees that are at a higher risk of persecution are writers, journalists, artists and human rights defenders who continue to face significant threats of arbitrary arrest, torture and imprisonment for any form of expression that the Taliban considers incompatible with their ideology.
“Women and girls deported to Afghanistan will face overwhelming levels of repression that affect all aspects of their lives, so UN experts have described as ‘gender apartheid'”, reads in the statement.
Many of those who fled across the border to Pakistan after the return of the Taliban to the de facto government in August 2021 had planned to travel to a country of security, said Pen International.
“However, the suspension of humanitarian visas roads and inappropriate support for Afghans at risk in countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, has left many stranded in a situation of precariousness and insecurity abject.”
For the more than one million Afghan refugees and asylum seekers who remain in Pakistan, the intensification of repression by the Pakistani authorities, which includes massive arrests and other forms of harassment, has instilled a renewed sense of fear in a community already ruined by conflict and marginalization, Pen International emphasized.
“In the light of the severe risk that the Taliban poses, the subigned organizations ask the Pakistan government to immediately suspend their ‘illegal foreigner repatriation plan’.
“We also ask the international community to guarantee a safe and legal step for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, including writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders and others at risk of persecution for their peaceful expression.
The organizations that signed the joint declaration together with Pen International include:
- Afghan journalists in exile in North America and Europe (AJE)
- Risk connection artists (ARC)
- Committee to protect journalists
- Free Press Unlimited
- Firstline defenders
- Censorship index
- International Refug Network Cities (Icorn)
- Nai supporting open media in Afghanistan (Nai-Soma)
- Pen Afghanistan
- Pen America
- Pen Germany
- Pen International
- Pen Norway
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
- The International Women’s Association on Radio and Television (IAWRT)
