mirzad: what about canada's promises to afghanistan's refugees?
no one is denying the horrors unfolding in ukraine and the need to help those fleeing. but this country made specific commitments to vulnerable afghans too, and isn't living up to them.
3 minute read
in this photo taken on march 23, 2022, girls attend a class in kabul. the taliban have now announced girls cannot go to high school.
ahmad sahel arman
/
afp via getty images
as the horrors of the war in ukraine persist and the entire eastern european continent opens its doors and hearts to ukrainian refugees, thousands — if not millions — of vulnerable and at-risk afghan women, girls and ethnic minorities fear being forgotten. of course, afghanistan isn’t a name that canadians would forget, at least not the families and loved ones of our 159 fallen canadian heroes, or any of the 40,000 men and women in uniform who served there. but despite canada’s sacrifices, the united states handed afghanistan’s 38 million citizens over to the taliban by virtue of the doha “exit deal.”
after months of rapid gains, the taliban finally captured kabul in august 2021. it became clear that a crisis was about to begin. on aug. 15, while remaining intent on forcing canadians into an election amid a global pandemic, justin trudeau announced his government’s bold pledge to assist and resettle 20,000 afghans. “our commitment to the people of afghanistan, including women and girls and lgbqt2 communities, remains unwavering … our ongoing work to bring them to safety in canada remains a top priority; we are committed to afghanistan and to its people,” he said.
in september 2021, he further increased that bold commitment, to 40,000. yet to this day canada has only resettled 8,680 afghans, most of whom had to get out on their own or through private ngos.
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meanwhile the taliban have forbidden girls from attending high school. scores of desperate afghans remain stranded within the taliban’s lair while many who were forced to flee to neighbouring countries now live as illegal aliens and face the daily fear of deportation. thousands are internally displaced, sleeping in streets or public parks, while many others have taken refuge in the mountains. according to the world food program, 60 per cent of afghans don’t have enough food and the united nations development program reports that 97 per cent of the population could fall into poverty this spring.
on march 4, the international rescue committee (irc) stated: “as the world’s attention shifts to the conflict and displacement crisis in ukraine, the irc calls on the world to not neglect afghanistan. the international community should seize this window of opportunity in afghanistan to prevent famine, save lives, and put an end to the horrific conditions facing women and girls.”
no one is denying the horrors unfolding in ukraine, least of all the people of afghanistan. they have been suffering for as long as, and well before, the modern state of ukraine has existed. unlike ukrainians who can cross over to europe and by extension to the rest of the free world, the people of afghanistan are held hostage from within and surrounded by pro-taliban regimes. while poland and germany are taking trainloads of ukrainians fleeing the war, pakistan and iran are deporting truckloads of afghan refugees, sending them back to taliban execution.
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across afghanistan, young girls are openly sold by desperate parents simply because they cannot afford to feed their other children. women activists, human rights defenders and other ethnic minorities such as hazaras have been dragged, beaten and abducted. the taliban have — despite false promises — once again begun public execution by hanging people from cranes or tractors, arresting journalists and activists, and have now launched a nationwide “cleanup project” by conducting a door-to-door search for “traitors” or “terrorists.”
hundreds of innocent civilians have already been flushed out simply for having a foreign phone number in their phone logs. it should come as no surprise that on march 22, as the school year began, the taliban announced that girls would be banned from attending high school, essentially depriving over one million young girls of an education.
while the trudeau government sets its eyes on the crisis in ukraine with bold commitments to welcome an “unlimited number” of ukrainians to canada, the thousands of afghans in makeshift refugee camps across qatar and the united arab emirates, or the millions still stranded inside afghanistan, are wondering what happened to canadian promises of freedom, human dignity and the security of their families.
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ali mirzad is an ottawa-based human rights activist and freelance writer.
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