Norway asked to stop deportation of three Afghans, says AI

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: The Norwegian government must immediately halt the deportation of a 16-year-old boy and his two siblings back to Afghanistan where they will be at grave risk of serious human rights violations, Amnesty International said.

Uprooting these three young siblings from the communities and deporting them alone to a warzone is an unconscionable abuse of power, Massimo Moratti, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe said.

The young Afghans were deported from Norway to Istanbul on Saturday together with their mother. Due to her health condition, their mother is expected to be returned to Norway, but the children are in danger of being flown to Kabul imminently, according to Amnesty International.

“Uprooting these three young siblings from the communities where they have lived for more than seven years and deporting them alone to a warzone is an unconscionable abuse of power,” Moratti said.

“Afghanistan is not a safe country for returns, and if this heartless and unnecessary deportation is completed it will split the family, endanger these three young people’s live and rob them of their futures,” he said.

TaibehAbbasi was born in Iran to Afghan parents and fled to Norway with her mother and brothers in 2012. She is a brave human rights defender, speaking out for her family, who have been fully supported by their local community in Trondheim.

The Norwegian government has justified the family’s deportation by claiming that Afghanistan is safe for returns.

“This claim is contradicted by the record-high levels of violence documented across Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the Institute for Peace and Economics described Afghanistan as the ‘least peaceful’ country in the world,” The Amnesty International said.

The whereabouts of the family in Istanbul are unknown but it is believed that they have had no access to information or contact with the outside world since they were put on a plane early on Saturday.(TOLOnews)