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BRUSSELS (AP) – Human rights and refugee groups on Thursday called on the European Union to step up aid to people trying to flee Afghanistan, accusing the bloc of not doing enough to help those who live in fear of the Taliban regime.
More than 100,000 people were airlifted out of Kabul in a chaotic exodus late last month after President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of US troops and the Taliban took control of Afghanistan torn apart by conflict in just a few weeks. Thousands of other Afghans want to leave.
In new figures released on Thursday, the EU’s asylum agency said asylum claims from Afghans numbered 7,300 in July – before the government fell – an increase of 21% from June and the fifth consecutive monthly increase. Almost 1,200 were unaccompanied minors, EASO reported. More than half of Afghan asylum claims in Europe are rejected.
“The EU should share, rather than shirk, the responsibility to provide them with protection,” said the 24 non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International, Caritas Europa, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and the Red Cross, in a statement.
The groups have warned that 18 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, nearly half of the population. More than 630,000 people have been driven from their homes this year due to violence and drought.
There was no immediate reaction from the European Union.
Despite the increase in asylum applications, the EU faces no imminent challenges linked to the arrival of thousands of Afghan refugees, according to senior European officials. Most Afghans seek refuge in neighboring Iran and Pakistan, and to a lesser extent in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Yet that hasn’t stopped some European governments from sounding the alarm bells amid deep concern over a repeat of events in 2015, when more than a million people entered Europe, most of them fleeing the conflict in Syria, triggering one of the most serious political crises in the EU.
“We regret the misleading and alarmist rhetoric expressed by some European leaders in recent weeks,” the groups said. They said such a discourse “could raise obstacles to the integration and inclusion of refugees in European societies” and that it could stoke “fears of a non-existent crisis at the borders of Europe” .
They called on the EU to put in place safe routes for Afghans in need of protection and to put in place an “ambitious” resettlement program in Europe for those already refugees in Iran and Pakistan.
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