Bu metnin Türkçesini okumak için tıklayın​

برای مطالعه این متن به فارسی کلیک کنید.

UNHCR office in Turkey has implemented discriminatory policies against Afghanistan refugees. Two of their apparent discrimination are listed below:

• During the last five years, UNHCR-TURKEY has declined to investigate Afghans’ asylum requests with no logical reason such as: Afghanistan asylum seekers are actually economic immigrants, large number of Afghanistan asylum seekers in Turkey, and finally Afghanistan asylum seekers have come to Turkey after a long period of living in Iran.
• Laws and legislation of Turkey do not fulfill many of basic rights guarantied by Geneva Convention of Refugee Rights such as citizenship, freedom of residence, work permit, freedom of travel, etc. Therefore, refugees are usually resettled to third safe countries based on their announced quotas. Again, Afghanistan refugees have been discriminated in this process, and unfortunately most of them won’t be resettled in any third country. For instance, only 500 Afghans were resettled in a third country out of more than 10,000 non-Syrian refugees who were resettled in 2015. UNHCR-TURKEY announced no or very limited quota allocated for Afghanistan refugees by resettling countries as the reason.

We believe that all these above mentioned reasons are illogical, unjustifiable and against human and refugee’s rights because:

1. All reports by human rights organizations confirm that not only human rights conditions in Afghanistan are under serious threats but also the conditions are becoming worse. Increasing instability and insecurity, presence and extension of new terrorist groups such as ISIS, political and economic corruption, historical and continuous ethnic, gender and religion-based discrimination and intolerance are common and obvious facts in Afghanistan. Although, UNHCR-TURKEY prejudices a general decision considering Afghanistan asylum seekers as economic immigrants. Even the portion of Afghanistan asylum seekers filing asylum requests with solely economic motives have the right to have a chance for their requests to be investigated rather than to be unheard and ignored.
2. Neither the UNHCR in Iran, nor does the Iranian government process or investigate Afghans’ asylum requests. Meanwhile based on the reports of human rights organizations, Afghanistan asylum seekers in Iran are suffering from systematic discrimination, various social deprivations, forced deportation to Afghanistan,and sending to the proxy war in Syria. In such conditions, a portion of Afghanistan asylum seekers and refugees in Iran have had to leave Iran and apply for asylum to UNHCR-Turkey. Depriving them from their basic rights for seeking asylum has no logical or legal foundations.
3. According to UNHCR-Turkey statistics, the number of Afghanistan refugees and asylum seekers has increased from 9.5 thousand to nearly 106 thousand since January 2014. The high number of Afghanistan refugees and asylum seekers should have been led to higher efforts to consider their cases and to find solutions for  their problems. In contrary, UNHCR-Turkey has stopped to investigating their asylum requests. On the other hand, many Afghanistan asylum seekers and refugees are disappointed with the unjust treatment, so they have left Turkey illegally to EU countries especially during 2015. It is estimated that 95% of Afghanistan refugees and asylum seekers left Turkey during last year displacement crisis of refugees from Turkey to EU. Unfortunately, UNHCR-Turkey still regulates and justifies its policies based on old and wrong statistics.
4. The fact that resettlement countries allocate no or very limited quotas Afghanistan refugees, reveals another discrimination against them, which should be eliminated. The UNHCR-Turkey is supposed to pioneer to end this discrimination. Unfortunately, UNHCR-Turkey has not only denied its responsibilities, but also it has actually used that discrimination as an excuse to neglect its duties regarding processing Afghanistan asylum seekers cases.

On the verge of 20 June, World Refugee Day, once again, the remaining Afghanistan refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey announced their intense dissatisfaction against the discriminatory policies of UNHCR-Turkey. Our requests from UNHCR head office in Geneva are listed below:

• According to Geneva Convention of Refugees, primary rights of Afghanistan asylum seekers in Turkey consisting of investigating and processing asylum cases should be respected and protected. Asylum interviews for status determination should be scheduled based on a logical timeline, and results of interviews should be announced as quick as possible.
• The nationality of Afghans should not be a reason for depriving them from the facility of resettling in a safe third country. Even if resettlement countries are not willing to devote a fair quota to Afghanistan refugees, UNHCR is supposed to do its best to eliminate such a discrimination.
• Over the last couple of years it has been proven that implementing discriminatory policies will not demotivate Afghanistan asylum seekers from coming to Turkey. The real consequence of UNHCR-Turkey discriminatory policies is to decrease Afghanistan asylum seekers and refugees’ trust to the legal mechanisms in Turkey for asylum. Therefore, we warn all authorities that the currently observed decrease in illegal relocations of refugees from Turkey to EU countries is temporary. Sooner or later refugees will try new illegal routes to reach a safe country in where they think there are more just and fair mechanisms for asylum. The real winners of such conditions are illegal human trafficking networks. Obviously, UNHCR has a considerable moral responsibility towards all asylum seekers and refugees that put their lives at risk.
• In cooperation with ASAM​, HRDF, UNICEF and other organizations, UNHCR-Turkey has started a number of costly projects for asylum seekers and refugees. It is more appropriate to give an active role to refugees in need-assessment, planning, evaluation and monitoring of such projects to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. Currently, efficiency and effectiveness of those projects are under serious question from asylum seekers and refugees point of view.

In conclusion, Afghanistan asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey, hope that the executive committee of UNHCR and the UN high commissioner hear their voices, and get back to them with a compelling answer.