Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1494
2007-08-15 10:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

AFGHAN REFUGEES THREATENED (AGAIN) WITH DEPORTATION

Tags:  PREF PHUM PREL AF UZ TI 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8316
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3220
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9378
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1186
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3831
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3693
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 1884
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 7137
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0084
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0166
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0790
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2031
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0123
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001494 

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DEPT FOR SCA/CEN, DRL, AND PRM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL AF UZ TI
SUBJECT: AFGHAN REFUGEES THREATENED (AGAIN) WITH DEPORTATION

REF: A. TASHKENT 459

B. TASHKENT 965

Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001494

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SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN, DRL, AND PRM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL AF UZ TI
SUBJECT: AFGHAN REFUGEES THREATENED (AGAIN) WITH DEPORTATION

REF: A. TASHKENT 459

B. TASHKENT 965

Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).


1. (C) Summary: Charge d'Affaires met with United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative on August
10 to discuss renewed threats by the Government to deport
Afghan refugees from Uzbekistan. Charge shared with Akcura a
copy of a diplomatic note from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA) to the Afghan Embassy in Tashkent which accuses
the UNDP office in Tashkent of violating its agreement to
resettle Afghan refugees in third countries as soon as
possible. In the case that the Government expels the
refugees, Akcura said that UNDP would be hard pressed to find
countries willing to resettle them or temporarily host them
in refugee camps. He added that 1,284 Afghan refugees
remained in Uzbekistan, and that Sweden and Canada would not
resettle any more refugees in 2007. He also noted that some
of the Afghan refugees in Uzbekistan appear to be economic
refugees rather than genuine political ones. Nevertheless,
some of the Afghan refugees are undoubtedly political
refugees who could face pers
ecution if returned home, and unfortunately, it appears that
the Government may be getting increasingly serious about
deporting them. End summary.

EXCHANGE OF DIPLOMATIC NOTES
--------------


2. (C) On August 10, United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) Resident Representative Fikret Akcura (who covers
UNHCR matters since the March 2006 expulsion of UNHCR from
Uzbekistan) and Charge d'Affaires discussed renewed threats
by the Government to deport Afghan refugees from Uzbekistan.
Charge shared with Akcura a copy of a diplomatic note dated
July 13 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the
Afghan Embassy in Tashkent that was later passed to Embassy
Dushanbe by a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) representative (Note: Embassy Dushanbe provided
Post with the note. End Note.) The note accuses the UNDP
office in Tashkent of violating its agreement to resettle

Afghan refugees in third countries as soon as possible, and
as a consequence, threatens to deport them back to
Afghanistan


3. (C) The diplomatic note also said that the UNHCR office
in Tashkent illegally granted the Afghans "mandate refugee
status" before it was closed, and that since taking over
UNHCR's responsibilities in Uzbekistan, UNDP continues to
illegally issue and renew UNHCR's mandate refugee
certificates. Akcura explained that UNDP only issued a new
mandate certificate in one incidence, but it continues to
renew the certificates every six months or on an annual basis
as needed. In an earlier diplomatic note to UNDP on March 6,
the MFA declared that the certificates do not provide a legal
basis for long-term stay in Uzbekistan, thus reneging on a
long-standing "gentlemen's agreement" under which Uzbekistan
tolerated the presence of Afghan refugees despite not having
ratified international refugee conventions. Also in March,
four Afghan refugees were forcibly returned to Afghanistan
and there were reports of Afghan refugees being harassed by
police (ref A). After UNDP raised the issue with the MFA,
reports of harassments against the refugees ceased (ref B).
When asked by Charge on August 10, Akcura replied that there
have been no new reports of Afghan refugees being harassed.


4. (C) Akcura shared with Charge two related diplomatic
notes from the MFA to UNDP dated July 13 and the Afghan
Embassy's response to the MFA dated July 30. The note from
the MFA reiterates the claim that UNDP is illegally renewing
UNHCR mandate certificates, and specifically raises the case
of two Afghan refugees, Khedayatullo Makhammad Djan and Said
Takhershah Said Shah, whose certificates were renewed in
June. It also requests that UNDP cease renewing the
certificates and accelerate the resettlement of the Afghan
refugees to third countries, lest the Government be forced to
deport them. The note from the Afghan Embassy requests the

TASHKENT 00001494 002 OF 003


assistance of UNDP in preventing the deportation of the
refugees back to Afghanistan, claiming the country is already
struggling to cope with recent returnees from Pakistan and
Iran.

UNDP'S OPTIONS
--------------


5. (C) In the case that the Government goes ahead with its
threat to expel the Afghans, Akcura said that UNDP has three
possible options. First, UNDP can allow the refugees to be
deported back to Afghanistan. Second, UNDP could relocate
the Afghans to a third country refugee camp. But he said
that doing so would violate UNDP principles and it would be
difficult to find a host, as none of Uzbekistan's neighbors
were interested in accepting the refugees. Third, the
refugees could be permanently settled in a third country, but
once again, it would be difficult to find countries willing
to accept them in time. Akcura expressed interest in trying
to convince the Government to grant Uzbek citizenship to
Afghan refugees who have married Uzbek citizens. However, he
believed that the Government is afraid to demonstrate any
leniency towards the refugees, as it may encourage more
Afghans to cross the border. Charge observed that although
the Government was pressuring UNDP to speed up resettlement,
it was not taking the necessary steps on its end to
facilitate the process. For example, the MFA was slow in the
past to issue visas to DHS interviewers who could determine
whether refugees could be resettled in the United States.



6. (C) Charge asked about the fourth option, repatriation,
and whether UNDP was still considering implementing an
educational campaign with UNHCR to encourage voluntary
repatriation to Afghanistan (ref A). Akcura replied that he
was told by the Afghan Embassy that the refugees could not be
convinced to return to Afghanistan. However, UNDP still
plans on approaching UNHCR in Geneva and in Kabul about the
program. In addition, Akcura said that UNHCR will raise the
Government's threat to deport the refugees with U.N. Under
Secretary General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, who

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will be representing the U.N. General Secretary at the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) summit in Bishkek
on August 16, and with Tom Koenigs, the Secretary General's
Special Representative in Afghanistan, who will be visiting
Central Asia in September.

NUMBER OF AFGHAN REFUGEES REMAINING
--------------


7. (C) As of July 31, Akcura said that there were 1,284
Afghan refugees remaining in Uzbekistan. Akcura reviewed the
United States' resettlement program statistics for 2007 so
far: 61 of the refugees were accepted this year, with 119
more waiting for flights, and another 152 undergoing medical
examinations. If all of those refugees eventually are
resettled in the United States, there will be less than 1,000
Afghan refugees remaining in Uzbekistan. Akcura said that
Sweden and Canada have informed UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva
that they will not accept any more Afghan refugees in 2007.
Charge informed Akcura that no more DHS interviews are
planned in Tashkent for the rest of 2007 at this time.
Charge also reviewed for Akcura the various categories of
Afghan refugees the USG cannot resettle, including those
close associates of warlord General Dostom, former "People's
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" (PDRA) officials, human
rights violators, etc.

POLITICAL OR ECONOMIC REFUGEES?
--------------


8. (C) Akcura and Charge also discussed some peculiarities
about the Afghan refugees in Uzbekistan. Akcura noted that
several of the refugees reported traveling back and forth
between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan on business, which is
unusual, as refugees are normally afraid to return to their
home countries. In addition, several of the refugees hold
Afghan passports and renew them at the Afghan Embassy in

TASHKENT 00001494 003 OF 003


Tashkent, even though refugees are usually reluctant to visit
Embassies of their home country. Furthermore, some of the
Afghan refugees have come to Uzbekistan recently, despite the
fact that unrest in Afghanistan has subsided and refugees
based in other countries are starting to return. As a
result, Akcura believed that at least some of the Afghans are
really economic refugees rather than genuine political ones.
In addition, he speculated that the Government was also aware
of this, and that may be part of the reason why it is seeking
to expel them.

COMMENT
--------------


9. (C) The delivery of the two diplomatic notes from the MFA
to the Afghan Embassy and UNDP is a bad sign that the
Government may be serious about deporting the remaining
Afghan refugees. After Akcura reported in May that Afghan
refugees were no longer being harassed (ref B),we hoped that
the Government would back down on its earlier threat to
deport the refugees. On the other hand, by continuing to
threaten the remaining refugees with expulsion, the
Government may be seeking to simply speed up the resettlement
or repatriation process. If the Government moves to deport
the refugees before they can be resettled or repatriated,
though, UNDP will be hard pressed to find them shelter in a
third country. Although some of the Afghans may be economic
refugees, undoubtedly some of them are genuine political
refugees who may face persecution if they are forcibly
returned to their home communities. Some of those, in turn,
may have been part of the repressive Soviet puppet "People's
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" regime, and therefore are
barred from possible resettlement in the United States.
HANSON