Afghan refugees living in India for years demand legal status in second day of protest

Record ID: 1633525

  • Title: Afghan refugees living in India for years demand legal status in second day of protest
  • Date: 24th August 2021
  • Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (AUGUST 24, 2021) (ANI - NO USE INDIA) AFGHAN REFUGEES, WHO HAD LIVED IN INDIA FOR YEARS, CHANTING SLOGANS OUTSIDE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) OFFICE UNHCR FLAG OUTSIDE OFFICE AFGHAN WOMAN CHANTING SLOGAN AFGHAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN REFUGEES CHANTING SLOGANS AFGHAN WOMAN WEARING HEADSCARF WITH COLOURS OF AFGHANISTAN'S NATIONAL FLAG LOOKING ON (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) AFGHAN REFUGEE, ANISHA PARVAANI, SAYING: "We are safe here but do not have food and water. We are alive and we thank the Indian government for that but they should put pressure on UNHCR so that they provide a (permanent) solution to our problems." AFGHAN WOMEN REFUGEES HOLDING BANNER IN FRONT OF AFGHAN CHILDREN REFUGEES AND CHANTING SLOGANS AFGHAN CHILDREN REFUGEES CHANTING SLOGANS (English): "WE WANT ANSWER" AFGHAN CHILDREN REFUGEES CHANTING SLOGANS (English): "WE WANT JUSTICE" (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) AFGHAN REFUGEE, WHO ARRIVED IN INDIA IN 2010, WAIB (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), SAYING: "We want resettlement from UNHCR. If the India UNHCR cannot handle this many people, then resettle us in some other country." UNIDENTIFIED MAN MAKING SPEECH TO PROTESTERS DURING DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS OF AFGHAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN REFUGEES DURING PROTEST
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2021 11:01
  • Keywords: Afghanistan India Islamist Kabul New Delhi Taliban United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) evacuations evacuees insurgents militants protests refugees
  • Location: NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • City: NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA001ERN11DZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Afghan refugees, who had lived in India for years, demanded for more permanent solutions to their legal status during the second day of their protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in New Delhi on Tuesday (August 24).
    The refugees chanted slogans during their sit-in, demanding for refugee cards, resettlement options to a third country, security from international bodies and the Indian government.
    As of 2019, Afghans accounted for around a third of the nearly 40,000 refugees registered in India, according to the U.N. refugee agency. But that figure excludes those who are not registered with the U.N.
    A UNHCR flag hung limply outside the agency's office in New Delhi, which had been closed since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. With its staff working remotely, applicants for refugee status said delays to their paperwork had been exacerbated.
    However, despite the UNHCR's operations in Delhi, India has not signed onto U.N. refugee agreements. Lacking an overall asylum framework, many Afghans struggle to make long-term plans in India, including getting employment, despite having U.N. refugee status.
    "We are safe here but do not have food and water. We are alive and we thank the Indian government for that but they should put pressure on UNHCR so that they provide a (permanent) solution to our problems," Afghan refugee Anisha Parvaani said.
    The Taliban's lightning-fast takeover of the country this month, after U.S. troops started to withdraw and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled, left foreign governments scrambling and sparked a panicked mass exodus from the country. Thousands of people desperate to flee are still stranded at Kabul airport even as an August 31 deadline to airlift foreign troops and their allies looms.
    Countries that have evacuated some 50,000 people over the past 10 days are trying to meet the deadline agreed earlier with the Taliban for the withdrawal of foreign forces, a NATO diplomat told Reuters.
  • Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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