Afghan migrants: France announces in turn the suspension of expulsions
Migrants are lining up to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the NGO Médecins sans frontières in Paris on July 29, 2021 (illustrative image).
AP - Michel Euler
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
France announced on Thursday August 12 that it had suspended the expulsions of migrants to Afghanistan since July.
A subject that remains controversial within the European Union.
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France announced on Thursday that it had suspended deportations of migrants to Afghanistan since the beginning of July, due to the fighting between the Taliban and pro-government forces.
The same decision was taken by Germany and the Netherlands on Wednesday, as the rapid advance of the Taliban is causing population displacement.
Two-thirds of the country is now in their hands.
While the government in Kabul had called for a three-month suspension of these expulsions, six EU countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, had nevertheless written a letter on August 5 to the European Commission asking it not to not suspend the expulsions of failed Afghan migrants.
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See also: Afghan migrants: Germany and the Netherlands suspend deportations
10% of asylum seekers in Europe
These Member States explained their position by expressing fears that the suspension of expulsions would cause an influx of refugees into Europe.
Afghans represent more than 10% of the 400,000 asylum applications in the European Union.
A quarter of these asylum applications were lodged in France in 2020.
According to a European official, since the start of 2021, 1,200 people have been returned from the EU to Afghanistan, 1,000 of whom were
initially
described as "
volunteers
", the other 200 having been "
forced
" to leave.
The Taliban launched in early May an all-out offensive against the Afghan forces, in favor of the final withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan, scheduled to end at the end of August.
This Thursday
they
captured the strategic city of Ghazni
, 150 km southwest of Kabul, and are dangerously close to the capital of Afghanistan after having seized in a few days most of the northern half of the country. .
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Afghan migrants: Germany and the Netherlands suspend deportations