The Argentine Government does not rule out giving refuge to Afghan citizens

Natasha Niebieskikwiat

08/26/2021 17:32

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 08/26/2021 5:37 PM

The crisis unleashed in Afghanistan by the withdrawal of United States troops and the rise to power of the Taliban militia aroused pressure from international organizations

for the international community to welcome

those displaced from this new war and humanitarian conflict.

Thursday's bloody bombing at the Kabul airport amplified the drama. 

Sources consulted in the Argentine government confided to

Clarín

that they do not rule out welcoming Afghan citizens, although they stressed that

there is no date to channel it

.

They pointed out that these are extremely sensitive matters that are being discussed and that it is still premature to sign up for that race.

For starters, senior sources consulted on condition of strict

off the record said 

that a refugee plan for Afghan citizens

should be made through the Argentine embassy in Pakistan

, led today by the diplomat Leopoldo Sahores, who is in charge of Afghanistan affairs. , where there is no national representation. 

Video image of the dead and wounded after the attack in Kabul.

Reuters photo

However, between the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Relations they are pending the press and the claims of international organizations.

But they give an example of what happened with the so-called Syria Program, which is still in

force with the UNHCR

(the United Nations Agency for Refugees), but it is not working.

The Syria Program was created under the government of Mauricio Macri to

give refuge to those displaced from the civil war in the Arab country

.

But the Syrians did not show interest in coming to Argentina

and in Uruguay there were a series of coexistence conflicts with families of Syrian refugees there that served as a mirror to how difficult it is to embark on a plan to give refuge to citizens in humanitarian crisis and cultures. so dissimilar.

Safety

Another important aspect

is the management of security.

At the height of the war in Syria, a network was detected that gave false passports to Syrian citizens, from which Argentina was not exempt.

Most of the displaced are undocumented, at least with passports. 

The Foreign Ministry and Migration still have to solve

the case of ten Syrian families who months ago offered to come.

Seven of them wait in Lebanon and three in Egypt.

But their refuge here is extremely slow.

Injured taken to hospital in Kabul Photo Reuters

Last Friday, the deputy director of Amnesty International Argentina, Paola García Rey, ruled that

"If Argentina were consistent with its human rights policy,

I understand that it should open its doors to Afghan refugees

.

"

He said that "a job had to be done so that those families could be inserted into society and that depends on a present state. We must be up to the task."

The Government of Alberto Fernández has spoken out on the crisis in Afghanistan through the Foreign Ministry,

which made several calls for the peaceful resolution of the conflict

, although without mentioning the Taliban.

Human rights

In turn, the Government supported a resolution of the UN Human Rights Council that

demanded

that

the human rights

in Afghanistan be protected, especially those of women and minors, the most vulnerable today.

But neither the Minister of the Interior, Wado de Pedro, nor the Director of Migration, Florencia Carignano, nor Foreign Minister Felipe Solá made a public statement on whether or not to give refuge to Afghans.

The Mexican government

received days ago a group of 124 people, made up of reporters working in Afghanistan and their families.

Ecuador said it plans to host around 5,000 Afghans with financial help from the United States.

Meanwhile, the United States has managed to get

82,300 people

out of Kabul

in recent days.

And in Europe there was little willingness to receive displaced people.

But the reception of the Afghans is slow and the paradox is that they encounter greater resistance in the Islamic countries.

Especially in Turkey.

On the 19th, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Erdogan estimated the total number of Afghans who "have been sent" back at 235,000, without specifying the period in which these repatriations have taken place.

PB

Look also

The United States announced that it will retaliate against the Islamic State for the attacks in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: ISIS claimed double responsibility for the Kabul airport attack