EU Accused of ‘Staggering Neglect’ After Just 271 Afghans Resettled across Bloc

Just 271 Afghans were resettled in the EU in 2022, 0.1% of the 270,000 identified as in need of permanent protection, it has emerged.
Leading charity the International Rescue Committee accused EU leaders of “staggering neglect” of Afghan refugees with many remaining trapped in “prison-like” conditions on Greek islands, The Guardian reported.

In a damning report, the International Rescue Committee claims EU member states have “consistently” failed to deliver on legal resettlement promises leaving many Afghans who do reach the EU borders “vulnerable” all over again.

It claims that not a single person has arrived under a scheme established in Germany in 2021 to resettle up to 1,000 Afghans a month, while Italy has taken just half the refugees it promised.

Between 2021 and 2022, about 41,500 Afghans at risk were admitted to the EU, many through ad hoc emergency evacuations in August 2021.

“While the IRC welcomes each of these efforts, this response remains vastly insufficient,” the IRC reports said.

Some countries have not taken any Afghans at all since Kabul fell and the country was taken over by the Taliban, according to its report, Two years on Afghans still lack pathways to safety in the EU.

Many remain “trapped in remote and prison-like conditions” in camps on Greek islands “preventing their inclusion into local communities and devastating their mental health”, said the report.

The authors also found that more than 90% of the Afghans supported by the IRC’s mental health teams in Lesbos and Athens experienced symptoms of anxiety, and 86% of depression, in the year to March 2023.