EU Hosts 5 Taliban Envoys in Brussels as Deportation Talks Draw Rights Backlash
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 23
EU Hosts 5 Taliban Envoys in Brussels as Deportation Talks Draw Rights Backlash
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 23
Summary
Belgium issued five single-day visas for a Taliban delegation due in Brussels on Tuesday, where EU officials plan talks on expanding returns of Afghan migrants.
The meeting follows EU contacts with the Taliban since January on deporting Afghans, with the Commission saying the focus is people without legal status or those deemed security threats.
83 rights groups, aid agencies and MEPs say the talks risk normalising a regime that bars girls from school beyond sixth grade and whose senior leaders face ICC warrants over persecution of women.
UN findings and campaigners warn returns could breach non-refoulement rules, citing arrests, torture and ill treatment of deportees in Afghanistan, where about 40% of the population faces hunger.
The dispute highlights a widening EU split between tougher migration policy and its stated human-rights stance as some member states already resume Afghan deportations.