DUSHANBE — An ominous message was despatched to Afghan refugees in Tajikistan this week, warning members of the some 10,000-strong neighborhood that they danger being forcibly despatched again to face the persecution and violence they fled.

“They [the Tajik authorities] advised us that they’d take us to Dushanbe, however they took us on to the border,” an Afghan lady who claimed she had been expelled to Afghanistan stated in a voice recording obtained by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service this week. “Everybody, if somebody from your loved ones is working, do not let him go to work. Don’t stroll round Dushanbe,” she added in a stark warning to fellow refugees within the Tajik capital.

RFE/RL was unable to independently confirm the claims made within the nameless recording. However for the reason that warning emerged on a WhatsApp channel devoted to Afghan nationals dwelling in Tajikistan on August 22, well-placed sources and kinfolk of refugees have stated that at the very least 9 Afghans have been forcibly despatched again to Afghanistan prior to now week.

It was unclear why the Afghan nationals have been deported. However it’s a part of a pattern that has been criticized by the UN refugee company (UNHCR).

The deportations come regardless of longstanding calls by the UN physique to halt the expulsions of Afghan nationals from Tajikistan and to supply them safety and provides them entry to a good asylum course of.

The lady who issued the warning on WhatsApp stated she had been deported together with two different Afghan nationals, considered one of whom, she stated, held official UN refugee paperwork. This declare was additionally made by different sources who spoke to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service concerning the current deportations.

“My husband’s residency paperwork have been right. He had a UN refugee card, however he was expelled from Tajikistan,” the spouse of one of many deportees stated on situation of anonymity. “My husband is now on the opposite facet of the border, and I’m in Tajikistan with my three kids. We do not know the place to go.”

A supply who helps present authorized companies to Afghan refugees in Tajikistan stated members of the nation’s safety companies forcibly took the refugees to the border.

“We nonetheless have no idea why this occurred,” the supply stated on situation of anonymity out of issues of retribution. “A number of the Afghan immigrants have been referred to as in to examine their paperwork and have been taken to the border by automotive and transferred to that facet. Some have been taken away from their properties.”

In an August 25 assertion, the UNHCR raised “grave issues over the continued detention and deportations of Afghan refugees in Tajikistan, warning as soon as once more that forcing folks fleeing persecution again to their nation towards their will is prohibited and places lives in danger.”

The UN physique stated that 5 Afghan nationals, together with a mom and her three kids, have been despatched throughout the border in northeastern Tajikistan to Afghanistan on August 23.

“Tajikistan should cease detaining and deporting refugees, an motion that clearly places lives in danger,” stated Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR’s director of worldwide safety. “Pressured return of refugees is towards the legislation and runs opposite to the precept of non-refoulement, a cornerstone of worldwide refugee legislation.”

The assertion didn’t point out the opposite 4 refugees which might be believed to have been deported since August 19 however stated that “since 2021, UNHCR has recorded a number of incidents of refugee detentions, compelled returns, and non-admission to territory for people in want of worldwide safety” in Tajikistan.

The UNHCR didn’t reply to questions associated to allegations that among the deportees held UN refugee paperwork.

Tajikistan, which shares a 1,360-kilometer border with Afghanistan, has lengthy been a brief haven for Afghans fleeing persecution, financial hardship, and unrest of their dwelling nation. The numbers of Afghan refugees in Tajikistan have fluctuated vastly over the previous twenty years, from a peak of greater than 15,300 in 2001, when U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime, to greater than 8,000 in the beginning of this yr.

Within the 4 months after the Taliban returned to energy in August 2021, roughly 1,300 Afghans sought refugee standing in Tajikistan. Hundreds of Afghans have been transferred from Tajikistan to 3rd nations.

Lower than every week after the Taliban took over Kabul, the UNHCR issued a “world non-return advisory” to nations internet hosting Afghan refugees. The advisory requires a ban on the compelled returns of Afghan nationals, saying that “compelled returns will place asylum-seekers prone to persecution upon return and accordingly, represent a severe breach of worldwide legislation.”

A devastating humanitarian and financial disaster in addition to the Taliban’s brutal rule has compelled greater than 1 million Afghans to flee their homeland prior to now yr.

Within the UNHCR’s August 25 assertion, Tan added: “We have now repeatedly urged the authorities in Tajikistan to permit entry to territory for these fleeing battle and persecution in Afghanistan and halt any additional deportations.”

Tajikistan’s State Committee for Nationwide Safety declined to answer questions by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service concerning the claims that at the very least 9 Afghan nationals have been deported prior to now week.

The Inside Ministry’s press service advised RFE/RL that 32 Afghan nationals had been fined for unidentified violations of their keep in Tajikistan, however that “they weren’t expelled.”