Hazara people facing persecution and dispossession in Afghanistan: Australia must act now

Since the fall of Kabul the Taliban have instilled fear and insecurity impacting all people in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s historically persecuted Hazara ethnic group, who faced widespread killings and genocide the last time the Taliban were in power, are now facing extreme risk to their lives.

There has been a dramatic escalation of systemic discrimination, targeting and persecution of Afghanistan’s long persecuted Hazara people in the last few weeks.

Reports of mistreatment, displacement, violence and death are becoming commonplace.

On 19 August 2021, Amnesty International reported, that Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. According to Amnesty International “six of the men were shot and three were tortured to death, including one man who was strangled with his own scarf and had his arm muscles sliced off.”

On 24 September 2021, more than 800 families of a Hazara-dominated farming community in Central Afghanistan reported that they were ordered to leave their homes and land by a Taliban fighter.

The Hazara community has never known safety whilst the Taliban have reigned.

Despite the acute dangers faced by at risk groups like the Hazara people, the Australian Government has not provided any additional humanitarian places outside of it’s prior intake for people from Afghanistan, including women, girls and those most vulnerable.

Quotes

Barat Ali Batoor, Hazara-Australian, photographer, and filmmaker

“The dark history of forced eviction is being repeated for the Hazaras in the Afghanistan provinces of Daikundi and Uruzgan. This act is both a war crime and ethnic cleansing of the Hazaras, it is extremely worrying for the diaspora community in Australia”

“The international community has a responsibility to protect the Hazaras from being subjected to another genocide. Australia must provide an additional 20,000 humanitarian visas, this will save many lives and is a moral obligation for Australia after 20 years of war.”

Sitarah Mohammadi, Hazara-Australian, Deputy Chair, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network

“As one of the most persecuted people in the world, Hazara people of Afghanistan are especially at risk of serious harm under the Taliban.

“Australia, as an ally and friend of Afghanistan with a large Hazara diaspora, should help Hazara refugees on temporary visas in Australia, by granting them permanent protection; expediting a safe passage out of Afghanistan for their families; and commit to an additional 20, 000 humanitarian intake from Afghanistan for those in urgent need to our protection, such as the Hazara people.”

Zaki Haidari, Hazara refugee, Leadership Coordinator, Jesuit Refugee Service – Australia

“Hazara refugees from Afghanistan have been living apart from their children, wife and loved ones for almost a decade. Afghanistan has not been a safe country before, and it is not safe now for refugees to return.

“We are kindly asking the Australian government to bring our families here and reunite us so we can stop thinking about their safety and wellbeing. The thought of our family trapped in Afghanistan is drowning us emotionally, we feel hopeless and heartbroken for not being able to help them.”

The Afghanistan-Australian Advocacy Network (AAAN) are calling for an urgent commitment from the Australian Government to an additional humanitarian intake of at least 20,000 places. Such a resettlement program should prioritise the most vulnerable persecuted people of Afghanistan, including the Hazara people.

In addition to the one-off 20,000 emergency humanitarian intake, the AAAN are calling for permanent protection for the 4,200+ refugees from Afghanistan, predominately from the Hazara ethnic group, on temporary protection visas here in Australia and the prioritising of family-reunification visas for people with loved ones stuck offshore. Australia could also lift the ban on resettlement of refugees to Australia through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia.

Petitions and an open letter published by the Network have now gained over 190k signatures from concerned organisations and members of the Australian community who are urging for Action for Afghanistan.

After nearly two decades of intervention and broken promises, the international community, including Australia leave behind a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis, an Afghanistan that is under the control of the Taliban. All the gains made to advance democracy, human rights, and protection for ethnic group are rapidly evaporating.

Media Contact
Emma Davies – 0408 840 567
emma.davies@racs.org.au