Dublin

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/569569626722710/

On the 17-18 of February, a weekend of protests will take place across several cities in Europe and Ireland against the deportations of asylum seekers from Europe to Afghanistan. A country suffering from increasing volatility and rising tensions.

Although Ireland is not or has not been deporting Afghans, we would like to stage a small protest in Dublin on the 18th of February outside the GPO in solidarity with Afghans in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and France who face the terrifying prospect of deportation.

“There is a disconnect somewhere, when all sources including EU bodies confirm a grave and worsening situation in Afghanistan while Member States continue to reject and deport Afghan asylum seekers,” says Claire Rimmer, ECRE Senior Policy & Project Officer(1).

The Afghan Paradox:
The Taliban are now active in 70% of the country (2) and The Global Peace Index 2017 classifies it as the 2nd most dangerous country on earth, after Syria (3). Afghanistan is not safe – and 72% of returnees are forced to flee again due to violence, says a Norwegian Refugee Council report (4).

The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations factsheets acknowledge UN statistics that ‘more than 8000 civilians were killed or injured in the first 3/4 of 2017, which is close to record levels.’ (1)
Yet, “according to official EU statistics, between 2015 and 2016, the number of Afghans returned by European countries to Afghanistan nearly tripled: from 3,290 to 9,460. The returns correspond to marked fall in recognition of asylum applications, from 68% in September 2015 to 33% in December 2016.”(5)

More information on the protest to follow shortly

1. https://www.ecre.org/the-afghan-paradox-chaos-and-violence-but-safe-for-returns-from-europe/
2. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42863116
3. http://visionofhumanity.org/indexes/global-peace-index/
4. https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/escaping-war-where-to-next2/nrc_idp_escaping-war_where-to-next.pdf
5. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/10/european-governments-return-nearly-10000-afghans-to-risk-of-death-and-torture/