The plight of Afghan refugees continues in some way or the other. Every now and then there are news reports that reveal the misfortunes and discriminations they face in certain ways away from their homes. According to news reports on Sunday, February 24, several Afghan refugees were recently executed in Iran for drug trafficking related offenses and their bodies reached to northern Takhar province, where they were buried.
Human Rights Watch expressed concerns regarding the treatment of Afghan refugees in Iran and mentioned that the Afghans who were sentenced to death did not receive fair trials and were not given opportunities to seek assistance from the Afghan government. Human Rights Watch’s Afghanistan researcher, Hearther Barr said, "We know that when people are sentenced to death in Iran they often have not received a fair trial and in the situation of Afghans, they are not given the opportunity to get assistance from the Afghan government."
The political and security situation in Afghanistan has always forced so many Afghans to leave their land and move to other countries to find refuge. There are many Afghans living in the neighboring countries because of the civil wars and severe social and economic conditions in the last 20 years or so. Pakistan and Iran are two prominent countries where most of the Afghans have moved and are finding ways to survive there. Though the end of Taliban regime and the developments being made in the country have convinced several to return to their country, yet many still remain dubious about their future in Afghanistan and therefore have opted to live away from their homeland. Definitely, the life for Afghan people has been very difficult in their own country but the life as refugees has not been a bed of roses. They have had different problems and will keep on facing the similar type of attitude as mentioned above unless measures are taken to curb them.
Spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations Islamuddin referring to the incident said, "According to our reports, only seven Afghans were executed in Iran in the past four months." On the other hand, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Iranian officials to inform the Afghan government about death sentences issued for Afghan refugees in Iran. "We have urged the Iranian government several times to at least inform the Afghan government about the execution of Afghan refugees in their country," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai commented on the issue.
Most of the Afghan refugees started moving to other countries in the region and throughout the world after the Soviet invasion of 1979 and an interminable civil war that followed. About 3.3 million Afghan refugees moved to Pakistan by 1988, most of whom were kept in Peshawar and the rest were somehow settled in other parts of Khyber Pahkthunkhwa. Moreover, after the incident of 9/11, when International forces engaged in war in Afghanistan, many refugees fearing the situation moved to Pakistan.
According to calculations, there were about 5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan by the end of 2001. Since, 2002, Afghan refugees have been assisted in returning to their country from other countries and from Pakistan. In 2006, Pakistani government started registration of Afghan refugees so as to figure out the correct number of refugees and provided them ID cards, as well. In February, 2007, the total number of registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan was about 2.15 million. Currently, there are 1.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and they can have some basic rights like the opportunity to work and attend schools until the end of 2012.
The Soviet invasion compelled many Afghan refugees to move to Iran, as well. Nearly about 2 million Afghan refugees were living in Iran by 1988. Though Iran welcomed warmly the Afghan refugees, better living opportunities for them remained very much limited throughout the country. They have been struggling much even for their basic rights. Currently, nearly 500,000 Afghan refugees live in Iran. About 100,000 Afghan refugees were forcibly deported to Afghanistan in 2007, and more are being deported every day, due to the tightening policies of Iranian government towards the Afghan refugees.
Both the neighboring countries, Iran and Pakistan need to make sure that the rights of Afghan refugees are guarded properly whether they are kept there or sent back to Afghanistan. The Afghan government must also make sure that the lives of refugees are not any sort of danger and they have their due rights where ever they are.
On the other hand, the international organization and the international community must understand that the issue of refugees is an international problem and needs proper attention from international community as a whole. The refugees who leave their homelands in search of better life, most of the times suffer different sorts of hardships before they reach somewhere safe. Most of them even do not reach to the destination they set for and end up in detention center, refugee camps and even death. On most of the occasions they fall prey to the ill intentions of human-smugglers, who discriminate them as much as they can. Furthermore, they have to go through severe kind of psychological depression and strain as they go through the worst sort of experiences.
The migrants and asylum seekers are mostly from the third world countries that suffer from wars, conflicts and political and economic crisis. Finding no guarantee of secure life, they move towards the developed countries of the world in search of contentment and bliss but unfortunately, there are many who do not earn the fortunate end. Therefore utmost efforts should be made to guard the rights of the refugees. There are so many concerning and illegal activities are involved in the migration and smuggling of refugees that risk hundreds of lives. All such activities should be discouraged as much as possible. Definitely there are administrative, political and diplomatic concerns for all the governments of the world to consider, but the issue of migrants is more important than such concerns, as it involves the precious human lives and the lives of human beings stand more sacred than any other concern, belief or ideology.