In a report unveiled on Wednesday August 31, the NGO Amnesty International warns of the fate of Afghans who try to flee their country and fall into the hands of Iranian and Turkish security forces.
Forced dismissals, live ammunition, arbitrary detentions, torture and other forms of ill-treatment… This field survey – the first on human rights conducted in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021 – denounces the attitude of Turkey and Iran towards Afghans seeking to flee their country.
“ Turkey and Iran have forcibly returned thousands of Afghans in violation of international law, since it is prohibited to return individuals to a country where they may be subjected to serious human rights violations, points out Marie Forestier, researcher at Amnesty International and author of this report. None of the Afghans we interviewed had the opportunity to apply for international protection, which is also against international law. »
Homicide cases documented
Carried out in March in Afghanistan with 74 people testifying to having been forcibly returned, 48 claim to have been the target of shots while trying to cross the borders with Iran or Turkey. The report entitled “They don’t treat us like humans” notably mentions eleven cases of unlawful killings of Afghans by Iranian security forces and three by Turkish security forces when they attempted to cross the border.
” Today, Afghans are trapped. Afghans who want to leave the country and who do not have a passport or visa have no other option to do so than to put themselves in danger. Along their journey through Iran and Turkey, security forces turn them back at different stages, force them back to Afghanistan, develops Marie Forestier. It has unfortunately become commonplace today that border guards around the world prevent asylum seekers from crossing. But there, with what is happening on the Iranian border and on the Turkish border with the Afghans, we have taken another step in the violence, since not only are we preventing them from crossing, but we are preventing them at the risk of killing them, killing them in some cases, and shooting them. Security forces have also subjected Afghans trying to flee to torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention. »
►Also read : More and more Afghans fleeing their country for Europe via Iran (November 14, 2021)