Forced deportation of Afghans demands NZ Government refugee support
World Vision is urging the New Zealand government to increase this year’s intake of refugees from Afghanistan through the refugee quota system, in response to Afghans being “forcibly relocated’ from Pakistan and Iran.
The call comes four years since the Taliban regained power (August 15), and as nearly 2.5 million people have been forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan in the past 18 months.
Pakistan introduced the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan in late 2023 to deport Afghans who did not have valid documents, even though many were born in Pakistan.
This year, Iran took similar action and since January more than 1.2 million people have returned from Iran, with many now living in makeshift refugee camps at the border.
World Vision’s Head of Advocacy and Justice, Rebekah Armstrong, says New Zealand is in a position to offer a lifeline to Afghans.
"Refugees from Afghanistan have been resettling in New Zealand through our refugee quota system for many years, building strong and established communities. The New Zealand Government already works to support Afghan resettlement and could easily expand this intake to address the growing humanitarian need in the region.”
“These are desperate circumstances in which children and families are being forced to leave the only communities they’ve ever known to return to a country which is in crisis.
“We’re calling on the New Zealand government to increase the refugee quota to enable 200 additional Afghans to resettle here,” she says.
World Vision is currently working at the border with Pakistan and Iran to help returnees where 27,000 people are returning every day, but the organisation’s National Director in Afghanistan Thamindri De Silva says it’s a dire situation.
“Children arrive looking dazed, disoriented and distressed, unsure what or where home is. It is heart-breaking. We need urgent support for families, but providing the essentials has been difficult due to ongoing aid cuts.
“At border crossings, like Islam Qala, needs far exceed the available support. Facilities can accommodate only a few hundred people per day; however, thousands are arriving daily. Shelters are overcrowded and lack basic amenities, including waste management and proper sanitation facilities,” she says.
De Silva says Afghanistan’s poverty, food insecurity, fragile infrastructure, job scarcity and climate shocks have driven many to seek better opportunities in Pakistan and Iran. She says in some parts of the country, such as west Afghanistan, there are communities with almost no men aged 13 or over because they are all in Iran working.
De Silva says nearly two-thirds of people in Afghanistan already require humanitarian support just to survive. She says many families struggle to get enough to eat and around six million people are on the brink of famine.
“The hardest part for many people returning will be starting from scratch in the communities that struggled to sustain them in the first place. Without investment in basic support in Afghanistan, already-inadequate services will simply collapse, multiplying humanitarian need,” she says.
Armstrong says the scale of the global refugee situation means that New Zealand needs to show leadership and responsibility and do more help.
“New Zealand has a special relationship with Afghanistan and has provided humanitarian support since the Taliban takeover in 2021, including resettling Afghans with links to our defence force.
“We’re urging the government to step-up as a compassionate global leader and offer a small group of those affected safety and security from a truly desperate situation,” she says.
New Zealanders who want to support World Vision’s work in Afghanistan can do so here.
The call comes four years since the Taliban regained power (August 15), and as nearly 2.5 million people have been forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan in the past 18 months.
Pakistan introduced the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan in late 2023 to deport Afghans who did not have valid documents, even though many were born in Pakistan.
This year, Iran took similar action and since January more than 1.2 million people have returned from Iran, with many now living in makeshift refugee camps at the border.
World Vision’s Head of Advocacy and Justice, Rebekah Armstrong, says New Zealand is in a position to offer a lifeline to Afghans.
"Refugees from Afghanistan have been resettling in New Zealand through our refugee quota system for many years, building strong and established communities. The New Zealand Government already works to support Afghan resettlement and could easily expand this intake to address the growing humanitarian need in the region.”
“These are desperate circumstances in which children and families are being forced to leave the only communities they’ve ever known to return to a country which is in crisis.
“We’re calling on the New Zealand government to increase the refugee quota to enable 200 additional Afghans to resettle here,” she says.
World Vision is currently working at the border with Pakistan and Iran to help returnees where 27,000 people are returning every day, but the organisation’s National Director in Afghanistan Thamindri De Silva says it’s a dire situation.
“Children arrive looking dazed, disoriented and distressed, unsure what or where home is. It is heart-breaking. We need urgent support for families, but providing the essentials has been difficult due to ongoing aid cuts.
“At border crossings, like Islam Qala, needs far exceed the available support. Facilities can accommodate only a few hundred people per day; however, thousands are arriving daily. Shelters are overcrowded and lack basic amenities, including waste management and proper sanitation facilities,” she says.
De Silva says Afghanistan’s poverty, food insecurity, fragile infrastructure, job scarcity and climate shocks have driven many to seek better opportunities in Pakistan and Iran. She says in some parts of the country, such as west Afghanistan, there are communities with almost no men aged 13 or over because they are all in Iran working.
De Silva says nearly two-thirds of people in Afghanistan already require humanitarian support just to survive. She says many families struggle to get enough to eat and around six million people are on the brink of famine.
“The hardest part for many people returning will be starting from scratch in the communities that struggled to sustain them in the first place. Without investment in basic support in Afghanistan, already-inadequate services will simply collapse, multiplying humanitarian need,” she says.
Armstrong says the scale of the global refugee situation means that New Zealand needs to show leadership and responsibility and do more help.
“New Zealand has a special relationship with Afghanistan and has provided humanitarian support since the Taliban takeover in 2021, including resettling Afghans with links to our defence force.
“We’re urging the government to step-up as a compassionate global leader and offer a small group of those affected safety and security from a truly desperate situation,” she says.
New Zealanders who want to support World Vision’s work in Afghanistan can do so here.