Published on 6/23/2026
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Last update: 15:34 (Mecca time)
Amnesty International called on European Union countries to abandon plans to deport Afghan refugees, and to stop any cooperation with the Taliban authorities regarding arrangements for returning the deportees to their country.
She stressed that Afghanistan cannot be considered in any way a safe country for returning refugees, and that this approach exposes the lives of deportees to grave danger, as several international bodies have repeatedly warned against.
The organization noted that the European Commission recently invited representatives of the Taliban to Brussels to discuss the deportation of Afghans, in a move that comes in response to pressure from some member states to accelerate deportations, despite the deteriorating human rights situation there, and the deep humanitarian crisis that the country is experiencing with food insecurity and the need of about 22 million people for aid.
Eve Guidi, Director of the European Union Institutions Office at Amnesty International, said that any European move towards deportation to Afghanistan is “reckless, dangerous and ignores the Union’s legal obligations, especially the prohibition on returning anyone to a situation where they face danger to their lives.”
She added that this approach contradicts the human rights standards set by the Union itself for dealing with the Taliban, and ignores the documented risks that enemies may be exposed to, including persecution, forced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment, and revenge.
Amnesty stressed that the “systematic repression imposed by the Taliban” affects all aspects of daily life, especially through severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls, the widespread use of torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial executions, calling on the European Union to respect its human rights obligations instead of seeking to return those who fled in search of protection.
