Rights group accuses Iran, Turkey of illegal Afghan migrant pushback

London [UK], August 31 : Iranian and Turkish security forces have pushed back Afghans who attempted to cross their borders by opening fire on them including women and children, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
In a new report, "They don't treat us like humans," the London-based organization also documents numerous instances - mostly at the Iranian border - where security forces have shot directly at people as they climbed over walls or crawled under fences.
Afghans who do manage to enter Iran or Turkey are routinely arbitrarily detained, and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment before being unlawfully and forcibly returned, the group said.
Amnesty International said thier researchers visited Afghanistan in March 2022 and conducted interviews in Herat City and Islam Qala border towns.
They interviewed 74 Afghans who had been pushed back from Iran and Turkey, 48 of whom reported coming under fire as they attempted to cross the borders. None of the people Amnesty International spoke to had been able to register an asylum claim in either country, and the majority were returned to Afghanistan in violation of international law.
"One year after the end of airlift evacuations from Afghanistan, many of those left behind are risking their lives to leave the country - Afghans who have travelled to the Iranian and Turkish borders over the past year, in search of safety, have instead been forcibly returned under fire. We documented how Iranian security forces have unlawfully killed and injured dozens of Afghans since last August, including by firing repeatedly into packed cars. Turkish border guards have also unlawfully used live ammunition against Afghans, firing into the air to repel people, and also shooting at them in some cases," said Marie Forestier, Researcher on Refugee and Migrants Rights at Amnesty International.
"The dangers don't end at the borders. Many Afghans we spoke to had spent time in arbitrary detention, either in Turkey or in Iran, where they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment before being unlawfully returned," she added.
Forestier said they are calling on Turkish and Iranian authorities to immediately end all pushbacks and deportations of Afghans, end torture and other ill-treatment, and ensure safe passage and access to asylum procedures for all Afghans seeking protection.
The London-based group also called on the international community to provide financial and material support to countries which host large numbers of Afghans, including Iran and Turkey.
"They must ensure that this funding does not contribute to human rights violations - this is critical, as the European Union has already provided funds for Turkey's new border wall, as well as for the construction of several 'removal centres' where Amnesty International documented Afghans being detained," Amnesty said.
Other countries must also increase resettlement opportunities for Afghans who need international protection.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled their country since the Taliban took power in August 2021. Afghanistan's neighbouring countries have closed their borders to Afghans without travel documents, leaving many people with no choice but to travel irregularly. This means entering Iran through informal border crossings - such as through crawling under a fence near an official crossing in Afghanistan's Herat Province, or climbing over a two-metre-high wall in Nimroz province.
Those who are not immediately detained by Iranian border guards then travel on to various cities in Iran, or to the Turkish border nearly 2000 km away in north-western Iran. At both the Afghan-Iranian and Turkish-Iranian borders, Afghans are subjected to violent and unlawful pushbacks - from Iran back into Afghanistan, or from Turkey into Iran.
Amnesty International researchers travelled to Afghanistan and Turkey in March and May 2022. They interviewed doctors, NGO workers and Afghan officials, as well as 74 Afghans who had attempted to cross into Turkey or Iran.
Some people had made multiple attempts, and some had travelled in groups; based on their accounts, Amnesty International documented a total of 255 instances of unlawful return between March 2021 and May 2022.