NEW YORK: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said that European Union (EU) states have “consistently neglected the needs of Afghans” as it found that only 271 of the more than 270,000 Afghan citizens identified as needing permanent protection were resettled in the bloc in 2022.
According to CNN, The IRC in a report said Afghans represent the third largest refugee population in the world, adding that several Afghans still lack pathways to protection in Europe nearly two years after the Taliban takeover.
The report identified “important hurdles” in Europe for Afghan refugees, including the severe threat of pushbacks or forcible returns, barriers to fair asylum procedures, and long times in detention-like centres.
The report said that Germany has been at the forefront of EU-wide efforts to welcome Afghan refugees since the Taliban takeover and expressed concerns about its recent programme to welcome them.
Last year, the government of Germany announced a federal admission programme that committed to admitting up to 1,000 Afghan citizens a month until September 2025. The IRC claimed no Afghan had arrived in Germany under the programme as of May 2023.
Germany’s Federal Foreign Office spokesperson, Christofer Burger, told CNN he was unaware of the IRC report. He said the government is “working under pressure to get the security procedures for citizens leaving Afghanistan back on track as quickly as possible so that the reception can be continued quickly.”
Burger said they’re concerned about quickly getting people in a “very precarious circumstance” to safety and said Germany has taken in more than 30,000 Afghan refugees since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
CNN reached out to the European Commission for comment on the report.
Nearly two years since the Taliban returned to power in a lightning takeover following United States troops’ withdrawal, the country’s humanitarian conditions have worsened. IRC said about two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population requires humanitarian assistance.
After the takeover, the United States and its partners froze about 7 billion dollars of the country’s foreign reserves. They cut off global funding – crippling an economy heavily dependent on overseas aid.
