Afghan refugees lack legal protection

Following the forced deportation of an additional 130 Afghans to Afghanistan this week, the chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Afrasiyab Khattak, on Wednesday called for greater legal protection for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He criticised the government and UNHCR for their apathy in dealing with the problem. “Pakistan internally does not have any laws dealing with refugees, nor is it a signatory to the Geneva Convention of 1951 or the Geneva Protocol of 1967 with regard to refugees,” Khattak told IRIN. “How is it then that these people can be deported? Deportation is a penalty which can only be ordered by a court, but the police are arbitrarily deporting these people without any legal process.” With regard to the UN refugee agency, Khattak said: “UNHCR is supposed to protect people from forced deportations, and these deportations themselves are against Pakistani law.” He added: “The main culprit denying Afghans legal protection is the Pakistani government, while the UN is also particularly passive in this regard.” Moreover, there was no government in Afghanistan capable of looking after its citizens abroad, he said. “All of these things demonstrate that these people have hardly any legal protection. They are living in a legal vacuum, making them particularly vulnerable.” Thousands of unregistered Afghan refugees who have arrived in Pakistan since September are at risk of being deported in the coming months, the government has warned.