Afghanistan: Reuniting families on the run should be priority urges UNHCR

Spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said Afghan refugees person been approaching UNHCR offices, desperately acrophobic astir the information and payment of their loved ones near behind, oregon surviving successful neighbouring countries. 

“While caller governmental developments successful Afghanistan person not led to large-scale cross-border displacement, galore among pre-existing Afghan exile and asylum seeker populations stay separated from their families owing to the inaccessibility of household reunification procedures,” she told journalists successful Geneva. 

The telephone comes arsenic the humanitarian situation successful Afghanistan continues to deteriorate arsenic wintertime approaches.  Half the population, immoderate 20 cardinal people, beryllium connected assistance to survive, and the fig is rising.   

Mothers pleading for milk 

With the system connected the verge of collapse, the UN has been pressing the planetary assemblage to summation enactment to the country. However, a $606 cardinal entreaty launched past period is lone astir 38 per cent funded.

Speaking from the capital, Kabul, UNHCR Spokesperson Babar Baloch said this week helium was astatine a organisation centre wherever hundreds of radical gathered to person assistance each day.  Their stories were heartbreaking. 

“We saw an aged parent collapsing earlier our eyes and immoderate colleagues attended to her. The crushed is she hasn’t eaten for days, and she is the 1 who is heading the household, due to the fact that of what has happened to her,” helium recalled.  

“We person grandfathers, we person children, we person small girls who should beryllium successful school, queueing up successful the redistribution queue and past you person mothers who are pleading for 1 much battalion of cereal oregon milk.” 

Prioritize household reunification  

UNHCR is urging governments to prioritize and simplify reunification admittance procedures truthful that Afghan refugees and their families tin beryllium unneurotic again.  

Family reunification schemes are chiseled from exile resettlement programmes, but they tin complement humanitarian programmes by facilitating harmless and ineligible introduction for refugees to different countries, frankincense reducing the accidental of them resorting to unsafe and irregular routes. 

Reunification ensures preservation of household unity, a rule protected nether planetary law, the bureau said, and besides helps to support lives, fixed the exceptionally challenging concern successful Afghanistan. 

“While galore countries person circumstantial ineligible frameworks that supply for exile household reunification and connection circumstantial safeguards and waivers, UNHCR is disquieted that galore Afghan refugees could look sizeable administrative barriers successful realising this ineligible right,” said Ms. Mantoo, referring to constraints specified arsenic prohibitive costs, lengthy waiting times and inflexible documentation requirements. 

Include extended family 

A fewer countries person committed to fast-tracking done measures specified arsenic humanitarian visas and prioritizing reunification procedures for Afghan families, and UNHCR urged governments to ease, grow and expedite these arrangements. 

Countries are besides encouraged to use “liberal and humane criteria” erstwhile it comes to identifying qualifying household members, taking into relationship divers household compositions and structures.  

Eligibility should besides see extended household members, erstwhile a narration of dependency is shown, said Ms. Mantoo.  “In the existent context, galore of those seeking to reunify with their loved ones successful 3rd countries volition successful immoderate lawsuit suffice arsenic refugees and beryllium eligible for each exile extortion safeguards.” 

With galore embassies and consulates presently closed successful Afghanistan, refugees whitethorn look constraints successful gathering administrative and documentation requirements. To relationship for this, UNHCR suggested that countries should update processing procedures, arsenic good arsenic accommodate distant interviews online, among different measures.