Humanitarian Response for Afghanistan

The Taliban has seized full control of the country, displacing thousands of people and re-introducing draconian laws synonymous with their previous rule. The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan is devastating for:

Women and Children

With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, access to healthcare and education will not be readily available for children and women.

Hazara People  

The Hazara people are ethnically distinct and follow the Shia sect of Islam.  The Hazaras have faced mass killings and genocide through the history of Afghanistan. In the 1990s when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, they declared a ‘jihad’ on the Hazaras. In the years that followed the Hazaras faced severe persecution, including mass killings in Northern Afghanistan where thousands of Hazaras lost their lives or were forced to flee their homes. Attacks on Hazaras continued by the Taliban during the past two decades, for example attacks on a maternity ward of a hospital that killed pregnant mothers and newborn babies, in schools and mosques and other areas of large gatherings like weddings. 

People from Afghanistan who have helped Australians 

Any person in Afghanistan who have worked with Australians in the past two decades, is likely to face death by the Taliban, especially if they had worked with the Australian defence force in the fight against Taliban.  

We the undersigned call on the Federal Government to:

1)    Provide a one-off humanitarian intake of at least 20,000 vulnerable people from Afghanistan (in addition to the current intake), especially minority/persecuted groups such as the Hazaras and women and children who have been displaced by the Taliban’s war in the different regions of Afghanistan and are seeking refuge. Canada has already announced an intake of 20,000 additional refugees from Afghanistan. 

There is precedent in Australia increasing our humanitarian intake in time of dire need, some examples include:

a)    In 1989, in response to the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, then prime minister Bob Hawke offered asylum to 42,000 Chinese nationals in Australia.

b)    In 2015 the Australian Government provided 12,000 humanitarian visas for people displaced by the crisis in Syria and Iraq.

c)     After the Vietnam war, between 1975 and 1991, Australia resettled over 130,000 Indochinese refugees.

2)    Grant all refugees from Afghanistan on temporary protection visas permanent protection, without the prospect of being returned to Afghanistan. Germany has already frozen all form of deportation of refugees to Afghanistan. 

3)    Enable refugees from Afghanistan to apply to reunite with their families. 

4)    Lift the ban on resettlement of refugees from Afghanistan residing in Indonesia – The Australian Government continues to block resettlement of refugees from Afghanistan to Australia through UNHCR if they registered in Indonesia after June 2014.