Under rising international and domestic pressure, the Australian government has resumed the processing of asylum applications from Afghan refugees. With the fall of the Taleban, Canberra had decided that the political dangers from which these people had fled were now over and, therefore, most of them could soon be repatriated.
On the face of it, that seems perfectly reasonable. If one assumes that all these individuals were genuine refugees who needed protection from their own government, then, when that government has been swept away and the foundations laid for a life where Afghans no longer need to live in fear, they have no further grounds on which to claim political asylum in Australia or anywhere else.
Yet the violent reaction of Afghan refugees to news that they were no longer in the asylum process has shocked ordinary Australians. Hunger strikers have actually sewn up their own lips and other refugees have sought to hang themselves; so great is their anguish at their sudden change of fortune. The result of these protests has been that under rising pressure from its press and media, the Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has reversed his decision to stop the asylum process.
The grief of the refugees would seem to indicate that they remain convinced that in the short-to-medium term, it is not going to be easy for most Afghans to live a decent life. It will be even harder for the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Pakistan and Iran and Uzbekistan to return to homes that they fled, to rebuild their shattered lives. But that is what is going to have to happen. Afghanistan is these people’s home. Among those who have abandoned their country are some of the brightest and best, whose skills are urgently needed to help in the process of reconstruction.
So, while it may be understandable that refugees fear a return descent into the abyss of political instability and tribal wars, it is pretty clear that the economic argument is probably now the most important reason for their decision to seek to migrate. Fathers want to give their children opportunities that their homeland may not be able to supply for a long time.
The desperation demonstrated by the self-mutilation and attempted suicides of Afghan asylum seekers in Australia may not, therefore, be a reflection of their fear of further violence back home. It is more likely to be caused by the fact that these unfortunate people have paid everything they have and borrowed even more to have themselves brought to Australia. If they are sent home, they will have absolutely nothing with which to restart their lives. They risked everything on a desperate enterprise and they are in danger of losing it.
Even though the Taleban are gone, the real thing they ran away from, the certainty that they have no future in Afghanistan, is still there. The most humane treatment of these people would be to let the asylum process go on. In those cases where asylum cannot be granted, way should be found to send them home with sufficient funds to allow them to re-establish themselves. The Tokyo conference has pledged billions to help rebuild Afghanistan. Those who stayed behind will clearly benefit. But those who fled also need to have help.
