Plight of Afghan asylum seekers in UK is not recent

The British Home Office has forcibly sent back thousands of refugees to war-torn countries they left behind

As nations across the world assess how they can help Afghan refugees, the UK has said it will welcome 5,000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban during the first year of a new resettlement programme. But the country’s rehabilitation program hasn’t always gone well for Afghans in the past.

According to a report by The Guardian, the British Home Office has taken much trouble to make sure thousands of Afghan refugees return to their country.

International refugee organisations have over the past two decades slammed the British government as a high number of young Afghan asylum seekers are denied refugee status in the country when they turn 18 after spending a major part of their childhood in the country. These young Afghans have then been forcibly sent back to the country, the report stated.

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“For years, Afghans have fled their home country seeking refuge in the UK only to be disbelieved, detained and forcibly returned to the warzone they left behind. My hope now is that the culture of disbelief and disinterest towards Afghan asylym seekers becomes a thing of the past,” Jamie Bell, an immigration lawyer who represented many Afghans seeking asylum, said, calling it a “lengthy uphill battle” for the refugees.

The Home Office has deported 605 Afghans between 2009 and 2015.

The British Home Office website until Tuesday morning stated that Kabul was a “safe place” to which refused asylum seekers must be returned. A spokesman for the Home Office is quoted by the report as saying that the enforced returns to Afghanistan have been paused this week as officials reconsider the situation in the now Taliban-controlled country.

Read | UK scheme to facilitate resettlement of up to 20,00 Afghans in 'long term'

Campaigners for refugee rehabilitation expect a new government policy to fix the number of target people to be helped. The British government reportedly had promised to rehabilitate 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children in Calais 2016 (many from Afghanistan), but on 380 received help.