Amnesty’s head writes to Pakistan PM about challenges faced by Afghan refugees

Secretary-General of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, has sent a letter to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, calling for the challenges faced by the Afghan refugees to be addressed.

According to the letter, Pakistan lacks national legislation for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers, and the country also has no established procedures to determine refugee status.

Callamard wrote that without documentation, Afghans are largely unable to access housing as they cannot convince landlords to rent out houses to them.

She added that Afghans cannot open bank accounts or receive money in their own name from relatives abroad. They cannot acquire SIM cards for their mobile phones due to lack of identification documents and policies that prohibit foreigners from obtaining SIM cards without approval from the Interior Ministry.

Callamard called on the Pakistani government to provide Afghans with a means of regularizing their stay and accessing services without discrimination, including education for children and health care.

She also said that the Pakistani government should not acquire Afghans in need of visa renewals to cross the border into Afghanistan as this would be considered a form of “refoulement.”

“Pakistani law enforcement must also protect the rights of refugees to peaceful expression and assembly, including the right to carry out peaceful demonstrations, and all arrests of Afghan refugees/asylum seekers under the pretext of being undocumented should be stopped,” Callamard said.