Germany: Deportations to Afghanistan risks Government becoming an accomplice to the Taliban

Nobody is safe in Afghanistan - extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture are commonplace 

Government’s adopted asylum policy during election campaigns is political theatre and violates international law 

‘We all have human rights, and no one should be deported to a country where there is a risk of torture’ - Julia Duchrow  

Reacting to reports that the first deportation from Germany to Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power took place this morning, and the German Federal Government’s announcement yesterday that it would deport so-called “threats” and criminals to Afghanistan and Syria, Julia Duchrow, Amnesty International Germany’s Secretary General, said:  

“The Federal Government's adopted asylum policy measures are political theatre during election campaigns that clearly violate obligations under international law. We all have human rights, and no one should be deported to a country where there is a risk of torture.   

“It is alarming that the Federal Government is ignoring these obligations and deporting people to Afghanistan. Nobody is safe in Afghanistan. Extrajudicial executions enforced disappearances and torture are commonplace. If the Federal Government deports people to Afghanistan, it risks becoming an accomplice of the Taliban. The Government must take its obligations under international law seriously and must not allow itself to be driven by anti-human rights positions in the election campaign. 

“The planned reduction in benefits for asylum seekers in the Dublin procedure also leaves me shaking my head. How the security situation is to be improved by pushing people into absolute poverty remains the Federal Government's secret. The Federal Constitutional Court has already repeatedly classified cuts in benefits for asylum seekers as unconstitutional.”  

ENDS