4. EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: WILFUL BLINDNESS
“I went to Europe because I believed that they respect human rights and would protect me from harm. Unfortunately I was wrong.” Rahim, returnee from Norway, 18 May 2017
This chapter describes how European governments have remained wilfully blind to the dangers described in Chapter 2, to which returnees are exposed. European governments and the EU are putting Afghanistan under tremendous pressure to accept large numbers of returnees. The impetus for these returns is disconnected from the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, and reflects internal political developments in Europe itself. Returns to Afghanistan have increased, even as dangers in the country have become more severe. To effect returns, European countries have arbitrarily called some areas of Afghanistan “safe,” relying on the idea of an “Internal Flight Alternative,” which is legally questionable and factually unsound.
FACT DEFICIT Despite the serious deterioration in people’s safety and security across Afghanistan, as discussed in Chapter 2, the numbers of people being returned to the country from Europe have increased significantly since 2013, particularly between 2015 and 2016. As previously mentioned, according to official EU statistics, between 2015 and 2016, the number of Afghan citizens returned by European countries to Afghanistan nearly tripled: from 3,290 to 9,460.140 The following chart shows the increase in returns (forcibly and ostensibly “voluntarily”) of Afghans from a number of European countries, between 2015 and 2016.
FORCED BACK TO DANGER ASYLUM-SEEKERS RETURNED FROM EUROPE TO AFGHANISTAN Amnesty International
33
