EU resettled only 0.1% of Afghans in need of protection: Report

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - Despite the pledges made after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021, the EU countries resettled only 271 Afghan nationals last year, amounting to 0.1% of those in need, a report revealed on Wednesday.

“EU states resettled just 271 Afghan refugees in 2022,” the Brussels-based human rights watchdog International Rescue Committee (IRC) announced in a new report.

“EU states have consistently neglected the needs of Afghans seeking protection,” the document claimed.

According to their estimates, at least 270,000 Afghans are in need of resettlement but the bloc only accepted 0.1% of them last year through previously announced resettlement schemes.

“So far not a single person has arrived” in Germany under the program that pledged last October to welcome 1,000 Afghans per month, the IRC said.

Italy has also committed in 2021 to host 1,200 Afghans, but it has only accepted around half of this number, the report claims.

Afghans “are most frequently reported to be victims of pushbacks at Europe’s borders, amounting to 40% of the pushbacks recorded in 2021” as they try to enter the EU irregularly due to the lack of working resettlement programs, the report said.

Those who manage to cross the border often “remain trapped in remote and prison-like facilities on Greek islands,” it added, claiming that over 86% of Afghan asylum-seekers experience depression due to their hopeless situation.

In total, 41,500 Afghans at risk were admitted to the EU through humanitarian channels since 2021.