Afghan migrants deported forcefully accuse Turkey of mistreatment

As Afghanistan continues to remain in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, numerous Afghan refugees who were sent back to Afghanistan from Turkey recently accused the country of mistreatment and complained of human rights violations, TOLOnews reported.

Approximately 1,600 Afghan migrants have been deported from Turkey to Kabul, TOLOnews reported citing a report as enforced deportations of Afghan refugees have become a regular affair due to the increase in the number of internally displaced persons in Afghnaistan in the past 5 years.

"I was at work, suddenly police came and took 50 people and me. We spent one week at camp, and after one week, they deported us to Kabul," said Zekrullah, a deportee.

"Turkish police have misbehaved with Afghan refugees, they beat refugees and they just gave us one piece of bread per day," said Abdulghafur, another deported, Abdulghafur said, reported TOLOnews.

For the past five years, Afghanistan's situation has been a peculiar one in the region with a steady increase of forcibly displaced people every year. Last year, Afghanistan's situation deteriorated dramatically with a 12 per cent increase of forcibly displaced persons by the end of the year compared to end-2020.

Globally, Afghanistan remains the 6th largest IDP country and the largest IDP population in Asia and the Pacific region at 3.5 million -- a 20 per cent increase compared to the previous year.

By the end of 2021, there were 7,77,000 newly displaced Afghans during the year due to the deterioration in conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan. 58 per cent of the IDP population in Afghanistan are children under 18 and 21 per cent are women.

The UNHCR report has argued that durable solutions for Afghans include voluntary repatriation, resettlement to a third country, local integration, naturalization and return to the place of origin prior to displacement.

Earlier in a statement, Amnesty International urged all countries to cease deporting Afghan migrants to Turkey or Iran, where they risk incarceration, torture, other ill-treatment, and forced deportation to Afghanistan.