What should an EU resettlement plan for Afghans look like? Sara Prestianni, Migration and Asylum Programme Officer at EuroMed Rights looks into it.
After the solemn and concerned declarations by European Heads of State and Government facing the Taliban takeover of Kabul, nothing seems to have changed as regards a genuine reception plan at EU level.
The Justice and Home Affairs Council of 31 August clarified the European position to prioritise offshoring refugees to Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan, or Turkey in exchange for economic support. As is all too often when it comes to EU migration and asylum policy, outsourcing to third countries seems to be the dominant solution over an integrated European reception policy.
De facto, no real commitment has been made with regard to Afghans in danger in their own country, in order to let them take safe and legal pathways to the EU, avoiding them to cross the sea and borders. Measures that would prevent an already tragic death toll at Europe’s doors.
What solutions can the EU propose?
Ahead of the Resettlement Forum (currently planned for 7 October), it becomes urgent that EU Member States open safe pathways for people in need of protection. This must include an ambitious resettlement programme for Afghan refugees as EuroMed Rights underlined in a joint statement with other NGOs.
From its side, the European Commission can use the internal budget on migration to ensure an adequate and harmonised level of reception in Member States. All budget engagements evoked during the Council meeting currently seem to be focused on supporting third countries either through the Neighbouring, Development and International Cooperation (NDICI) or the Integrated Border Management (IBM) budget instruments. No reference was made to strengthening the capacity of reception in Member States, using the Asylum, Migration and Integration (AMIF) funds.
Given the long delays that resettlement procedures often take, these support funds must be accompanied by other rapid evacuation measures, proportional to the danger that many segments of the population are suffering in the country: diplomatic evacuations, increased quotas for family reunification, the issue of additional humanitarian visas, community sponsorship and humanitarian corridors. As underlined in a recent declaration by Members of the European Parliament, the European Commission must pursue the informal proposal made by HR/VP Josep Borrell to use the Council Directive 2001/55/EC (Temporary Protection Directive) to guarantee immediate response and access to fair asylum process and protection in Europe
First step: help Afghans already in Europe
Proposing solutions for Afghans in danger in their own country must not conceal the thousands of Afghans already on European territory who often stand in an administrative limbo (EuroMed Rights interviewed one of them in its recent podcast series, “EuroMed Standing Watch” – podcast in French). Their asylum application must be re-examined on the basis of the political and social changes Afghanistan is currently experiencing. They must be allowed to obtain an international protection status so they can resume more normal lives.
Member States must also respect their commitment not to expel Afghans to their country of origin. They must exclude any readmission of refugees to third countries that would not guarantee them an adequate level of protection, as was leaked in some European Commission documents, and would lead to the violation of the non-refoulement principle.
Similarly, European institutions and Member States must not ignore the thousands of Afghans who already spent months, sometimes years, on the Balkan migratory routes, victims of violence and illegal refoulement.
The time has come for the EU and its Member States to show their courage in keeping faith with the EU’s founding principle of solidarity and that the tears shed in the face of the tragic images from Kabul airport are not just crocodile tears.
Sara Prestianni
Migration and Asylum Programme Officer