The Belgian secretary of state for asylum rejected calls on Wednesday to suspend repatriation of failed Afghan asylum seekers, despite a tense security environment in their home country
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2021) The Belgian secretary of state for asylum rejected calls on Wednesday to suspend repatriation of failed Afghan asylum seekers, despite a tense security environment in their home country.
Sammy Mahdi said on Tuesday that the small European nation would continue deporting Afghan migrants in line with directives of the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, an independent Federal agency.
"If the CGRS [Commissioner's Office] makes a decision tomorrow that the situation across Afghanistan is too unsafe or that decisions should be suspended we will follow it," he tweeted on Wednesday.
He defended Belgium's stance after its EU neighbors, Germany and the Netherlands, reversed their previous policies and announced the suspension of deportations to Afghanistan due to the ongoing offensive of the Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist group).
Mahdi argued that Belgium's international protection policy was being shaped by an independent authority, whereas the Netherlands left it to the politicians.
He also said that comparing Belgium to the United States, which likewise halted Afghan deportations, was "rather cynical" since most Afghans who fled the Central Asian country ended up in Europe.
