In a letter sent on Monday 8 June to Maxime Prévot, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, a group of 47 MEPs from five political groups (The Left, Greens/EFA, S&D, Renew Europe and EPP) reiterated their strong opposition to the issuing of visas to Taliban representatives, who are expected in Brussels shortly for negotiations with the EU on the readmission of irregular migrants (see EUROPE 13867/24).
The signatories state that this invitation sends an “extremely worrying political signal”, recalling that the Taliban have established in Afghanistan a system “of repression and exclusion” marked by “massive and systematic human rights violations”.
On 21 May, the European Parliament adopted a resolution denouncing a new authoritarian drift in the country, in particular new legislation authorising the marriage of girls from the age of 9 (see EUROPE 13872/25).
The MEPs urge the Belgian government to refuse to issue visas to any Taliban delegation and to demand the withdrawal of the European invitation in order to avoid any “implicit legitimisation” of the regime. They stress the need to respect the principle of non-refoulement and call on Brussels to maintain a clear position in line with its international human rights commitments.
To read the MEPs’ letter: https://aeur.eu/f/m7t (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)