UZBEKISTAN: AFGHAN REFUGEES DESCRIBE HARRASSMENT;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TASHKENT 000194 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA, DRL, PRM, AND DHS/USCIS PRM FOR MATTHEW JOHNSON, NANCY LONG, AND TERRY RUSCH MOSCOW FOR LISA KIERANS, SUSANNE SINCLAIR-SMITH, AND SUSANNE GIBBONS AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019-02-19 TAGS: PREF KWMN PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI UNDP UNHCR AF UZ SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: AFGHAN REFUGEES DESCRIBE HARRASSMENT; DEPORTATIONS REF: a) TASHKENT 156; 08 TASHKENT 1306 CLASSIFIED BY: Richard Fitzmaurice, Poloff; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Summary: On February 12, poloff met with 25 Afghan refugees at the office of a Tashkent-based NGO which provides humanitarian assistance to refugees. The Afghans alleged widespread harassment by government officials, and some refugees experienced forced deportation back to Afghanistan. They also claimed they would face persecution if returned to Afghanistan and complained about the resettlement process. In addition, the refugees expressed appreciation for the assistance they received from the NGO, which in 2008 was provided U.S. State Department support. We continue to believe that Afghan refugees remain one of the most vulnerable groups in Uzbekistan and we support efforts to encourage other countries to accept greater numbers of such refugees at the UNHCR Resettlement Working Group meeting in Geneva on February 24 and 25. End summary. MEETING WITH AFGHAN MANDATE REFUGEES -------------- ¶2. (C) On February 12, poloff met with 25 Afghan refugees, including the Chairman of the Afghan Community in Uzbekistan, at the office of Tashkent-based International Professional Education Development Assistance Center (PROFED),a Tashkent-based NGO which provides humanitarian assistance and educational training to refugees in Uzbekistan. Since the closure of UNHCR's office in Tashkent in 2006, UNDP has been responsible for monitoring the welfare of refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, who had been previously granted UNHCR mandate certificates in Uzbekistan. In 2006 and 2007, UNDP supported PROFED's operations, and in 2008 the organization received funding through the State Department's Taft Fund for Refugees. Since 2007, Afghan refugees have been increasingly harassed by Uzbek authorities, who have deported a substantial number of refugees back to Afghanistan in recent months. The Uzbek government claims that the Afghans are economic, not political, refugees (ref A). ESTIMATES OF NUMBER OF MANDATE AND "ILLEGAL" REFUGEES -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) PROFED's director Natalya Krokhmal reported there were approximately 750 Afghan refugees left in Uzbekistan with UNHCR mandate certificates (Note: UNDP recently provided us with a similar estimate, ref A). In addition, she reported that PROFED has registered an additional 1,230 "illegal" Afghan refugees, the majority of which entered Uzbekistan since the closing of UNHCR's office in 2006 and therefore could not be issued UNHCR mandate certificates. In the past year, she reported that nearly 500 new Afghan refugees had entered Uzbekistan. In certain cases, PROFED has assisted the travel of these refugees to UNHCR offices in Almaty and Bishkek. REFUGEES DESCRIBE HARRASSMENT; DEPORTATIONS -------------- TASHKENT 00000194 002 OF 004 ¶4. (C) When poloff asked how many of the refugees present had experienced harassment by government authorities, almost all of the refugees raised their hands. The refugees complained of being frequently detained by Uzbek authorities, who often demanded bribes of 10,000 soums (approximately 7 dollars) to let them go. They also complained that authorities ignored their UNHCR mandate certificates and in some cases seized their documents or tore them up. In some cases, the refugees already had been forcibly deported to Afghanistan and later returned to Uzbekistan. They explained that other refugees who recently had their mandate certificates seized by Uzbek authorities were afraid of being deported and were currently in hiding. ¶5. (C) The refugees and PROFED confirmed a report by UNDP in Tashkent that Uzbek authorities have forcibly deported almost 70 Afghan refugees from Uzbekistan back to Afghanistan since October 2008 (ref A). Of those recent deportees, the refugees explained that approximately 40 of them have since found some way to return to Uzbekistan, while they have not heard from the others. One female refugee reported that she had lost contact with her husband since he had been deported back to Afghanistan and feared that he had been harmed. ¶6. (C) The refugees explained it was very difficult for them to support themselves in Uzbekistan. Each family of refugees with UNHCR mandate status in Uzbekistan is given a maximum of 50 dollars per month, which they argued was not nearly enough to cover their expenses. Several of the Afghan men reported that they worked as menial laborers at bazaars in Tashkent, where they are often harassed by unemployed Uzbeks from the regions. The Afghans also explained that they were frequently discriminated against because of social prejudices which portrayed them as uneducated, violent, and involved in the drug trade. Many of the refugees complained of sharing extremely cramped living conditions with other refugees. AFGHANS SAY THEY WILL FACE PERSECUTION IF RETURNED -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) The Afghans denied that they were economic refugees and argued they would face harm if deported back to Afghanistan. They explained that Uzbek authorities, when deporting Afghans, simply drop them off at the other side of the "Friendship Bridge" over the Amu Darya River (which divides Uzbekistan and Afghanistan). Regardless of their past affiliations, the Afghans claimed that any returnee from Uzbekistan was viewed as a "communist" by Afghans and potentially faced retaliation. Some of the refugees feared retaliation by specific Afghan warlords or clan leaders. ¶8. (C) Several of the younger female refugees explained that they had lived most of their life in Uzbekistan and were doubtful that they could adapt to Afghan society and its much more conservative attitude towards women. Several of the female refugees feared that they could be persecuted for their dress (which was more or less TASHKENT 00000194 003 OF 004 Western) or for having lived so long in a country like Uzbekistan where such dress is tolerated. REFUGEES FRUSTRATED WITH RESETTLEMENT PROCESS -------------- ¶9. (C) The refugees - several of whom had been rejected for resettlement by third countries, including the United States and Sweden - unsurprisingly expressed frustration with the resettlement process (Note: Nearly 500 Afghan refugees have been rejected for resettlement in the United States due to past associations with KHAD, the intelligence service of the former Soviet Afghan puppet regime. End note.) Some of the refugees complained that they did not know why they were rejected for resettlement, while others denied that they had links to KHAD or other groups guilty of persecution, arguing instead they were simply journalists or members of the intelligentsia who supported the former Afghan Soviet puppet regime. Some of the refugees believed they had been rejected for resettlement because their children had provided contradictory information. They argued their children had spent most of their lives in Uzbekistan and had little knowledge about their parents' activities in Afghanistan. Other parents complained that their children had been resettled in third countries while they were themselves rejected for resettlement, and as a result, they were now unable to see their children. They also explained that some of the refugees based in Termez missed their interviews for resettlement because they were afraid to travel to Tashkent, believing that they could be stopped by Uzbek authorities en route and deported back to Afghanistan. ¶10. (C) The refugees believed that their time in Uzbekistan was "limited" and most of them feared deportation back to Afghanistan. They argued that the only solution to their plight was resettlement in third countries. REFUGEES EXPRESS APPRECIATION FOR PROFED'S ASSISTANCE -------------- -------------- ¶11. (C) The Afghans expressed appreciation for the assistance they had been provided through PROFED. Some of the older refugees suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, and PROFED's office was the only place where they could receive medical care. PROFED's staff intervened with local officials to allow their children to attend local Uzbek schools. In cases where the children were still unable to attend local schools, PROFED provided classes for them at their office. Several of the refugees also reported learning new vocational skills through courses offered by PROFED in cooking, sewing and embroidery, and hair design. TOUR OF PROFED FACILITIES -------------- TASHKENT 00000194 004 OF 004 ¶12. (C) After the meeting with the Afghan refugees, Krokhmal provided a tour of PROFED's facilities, which included classrooms and workshops. She explained that while the refugees are not able to legally work in Uzbekistan, they are able to support themselves by offering services to neighbors and friends. She also explained that some refugees who had participated in PROFED's trainings had used those skills abroad after they being resettled in third countries. COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (C) Afghan refugees remain one of the most vulnerable populations in Uzbekistan and we support efforts to convince other countries to accept greater numbers of such refugees at the upcoming UNHCR Resettlement Working Group meeting in Geneva. While a minority of the Afghan refugees in Uzbekistan may be economic, as alleged by the government, we believe that many of the refugees face credible threats of persecution in Afghanistan. Living in Uzbekistan is clearly no picnic for the majority of Afghan refugees, who face widespread social prejudice and harassment, including the threat of deportation, at the hands of Uzbek authorities. At the very least, Afghan refugees in Uzbekistan generally face more serious threats of persecution than other groups in Uzbekistan which have been previously granted asylum in United States, including members of the local Jewish and Protestant communities. 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