Many migrants are poor and lack passports or other valid travel documents, making them particularly vulnerable to border police who use threats or outright violence to keep them out.
Many migrants are poor and lack passports or other valid travel documents, making them particularly vulnerable to border police who use threats or outright violence to keep them out.
Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday that Iran and Turkey are blocking the entry of Afghan refugees or forcibly returning them under Taliban rule, a violation of international law.
Thousands fled Afghanistan after the US left the country in a chaotic military pullout in August 2021, allowing radical Taliban Islamists to take back control.
But while many who aided the US military were airlifted, the vast majority had to flee by land, particularly toward Iran and eventually Turkey.
Amnesty said many are poor and do not have passports or other valid travel documents, making them particularly vulnerable to border police who use threats or outright violence to keep them out or push them back.
The report said, “Iranian and Turkish security forces have illegally used firearms as a deterrent and a pushback method against Afghans trying to cross the border, sometimes resulting in death or injury.”
Amnesty said it was based on interviews with dozens of Afghans, of whom 74 were forcibly returned, sometimes with children or other family members.
The NGO cited several cases of “unlawful killings, thrashing by shooting and other unlawful returns, arbitrary detention, and torture and other abuses of Afghans at the hands of both Iranian and Turkish officials”.
Notably, it documented the killings of 11 Afghans by Iranian security forces and three Afghans by Turkish forces in the past year.
Under international law, countries are obliged to ensure the right to asylum and the principle of non-retribution, or the forced return of refugees to countries where they will face persecution or other human rights violations.
“This is the position of Amnesty International in line with the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]No Afghan should be deported, because of the risk of serious human rights violations they may face in Afghanistan.”
It also called on the international community to step up efforts to provide aid to countries that support Afghan refugees, and to facilitate the exit of Afghans at risk of being targeted by the Taliban to Europe, the United States and Canada.