Amnesty: Europe returns more Afghans despite violence

KABUL, Afghanistan — European countries are returning many more Afghan asylum seekers to their homeland even as violence in the war-torn country escalates, Amnesty International said in a new report Thursday.

The rights group says Europe’s governments remain willfully blind to the dangers faced by the returnees and with the European Union are pressuring Afghanistan tremendously to accept the large numbers of returnees.

From 2015 to 2016, the number of Afghan citizens returned to their native country from Europe nearly tripled from 3,290 to 9,460, according to Amnesty’s report, citing EU statistics.

Meanwhile, civilian casualties remained high, with, 11,418 people killed or injured in 2016, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. That’s up from 11,002 civilian casualties in 2015, according to UNAMA.

Amnesty called for a moratorium on Afghan returns until they can take place with “safety and dignity.”

“In their determination to increase the number of deportations, European governments are implementing a policy that is reckless and unlawful,” Anna Shea, Amnesty International’s researcher on refugee and migrant rights, said in a statement. “Willfully blind to the evidence that violence is at a record high and no part of Afghanistan is safe, they are putting people at risk of torture, kidnapping, death and other horrors.”

This report is based on desk and field research conducted between May and September 2017 and documented a total of 26 cases.

Afghanistan has suffered four decades of violent conflict and 16 years of war that began with the U.S. invasion in 2001 to target the instigators of the 9/11 attacks. Ordinary Afghans are frustrated by the relentless violence as well as the failures to keep them secure or achieve peace.

Intelligence service reports say at least 20 militant groups, including the Taliban and Islamic State group affiliates, operate in Afghanistan, mostly in border areas near Pakistan.

Between 2009 and 2016, UNAMA calculates that nearly 25,000 civilians were killed and more than 45,000 wounded.

The violence and deteriorating security has persisted this year.