On 4 October, the EU and Afghanistan finalised an agreement on speeding up the return of qualified migrants, economic migrants and migrants not eligible for protection from the member states. The agreement results from six months of talks, explained Natasha Bertaud, an EU spokesperson for migration, on Wednesday 5 October, denying reports by a number of NGOs that the agreement had been concocted behind closed doors.
Last week, the website Statewatch published European Commission documents saying that, once signed, the agreement would allow the immediate return of illegal Afghan immigrants to be organised and a working document from March even discussed the possibility of this covering 80,000 individuals in the near future.
The figure is not stated in the agreement signed on 4 October, but cooperation between the two sides indeed started as soon as the agreement was signed. Bertaud said non-rejection of refugees was being respected, but people who are not entitled to asylum and who are therefore considered to be safe when they return to Afghanistan will be sent back and this was an aspect of European policy that had to be taken into account.
In practice, illegal Afghan migrants who cannot claim protection will be sent back on scheduled or non-scheduled flights with the cost of the return process being paid by the EU. The European Union is setting up a reintegration aid programme for Afghans in their country of origin, and Afghans without a valid passport or other documents will be provided with standard travel documents (European 'passes' – the EU recently adopted legislation to this effect).
The agreement also covers financial incentives for developing business in Afghanistan and, in the very long-term, dissuading people from coming to Europe. NGOs such as Amnesty International have reacted to this by calling it humanitarian aid horse-trading. Amnesty regrets that the EU is agreeing to send people back to a country that already has problems managing displaced people and whose task will only be made worse.
Amnesty International criticises the way the two sides are making do with a deal they call a "joint way forward", rather than signing a proper readmission agreement. In the second half of 2016, Afghanistan was for the first time the country with the highest number of asylum-seekers making a claim in the EU (after Syria). Eurostat figures show that in 2015, Afghanistan was the fourth country in the top seven for which the EU granted asylum. The first was Syria, followed by Eritrea, then Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia and Pakistan. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)