Six EU countries - Belgium, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece - have written to the European Commission and request that the EU not stop the deportation of rejected asylum seekers to Afghanistan, Belgian State Secretary for Immigration Sammy Mahdi confirmed in a Twitter message on Tuesday.
" Certain regions of a given country may be unsafe, but this does not mean that all its citizens are entitled to refugee status. A self-righteous government must implement its own decisions: those Afghans who, after a thorough and independent investigation, prove that they are not in need of protection cannot stay in Belgium," underlined the state secretary.
According to the Belgian daily DeMorgen, Mahdi's announcement was strongly criticized by several human rights organizations. In his Twitter message, the Secretary of State responded to this by saying that " it is very easy to shout shame and wave the European Convention on Human Rights without being aware of the specifics ." He added: " getting past certain slogans proves extremely difficult for many when it comes to migration ".
The question is expected to be discussed at the extraordinary meeting of the interior ministers of the EU member states on August 18, at which they will also discuss the increase in illegal border crossings from Belarus to Lithuania.
The situation in Afghanistan worsened again since May, the radical Islamist Taliban launched a comprehensive offensive against the government forces in May, taking advantage of the fact that the international forces led by the Americans began to withdraw from the country.
They brought large areas under their control, displacing the government forces that showed little resistance. Meanwhile, the parties still fail to make progress in the months-long inter-Afghan peace talks.
MTI
Cover image: Illustration / MTI/EPA/Swen Pförtner
