Title: From catastrophic migration to life-long displacement and repatriation: an overview of existing Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Authors: Sana Ali

Addresses: Department of Mass Communication, Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan

Abstract: After two world wars, the Soviet-Afghan war is one of the most pre-eminent political occurrences of the 19th century. Critics consider this invasion a part of neocolonialism leading to the displacement of millions of Afghans for decades. Despite the 1990s Convention on Migrants' Rights extended basic human rights provision to all, Afghan refugees are facing an explicit infringement of their fundamental human rights in the host country Pakistan. The current article also tends to highlight the Afghan refugees' crisis as a cutting-edge issue. They are confronting poor health conditions, educational deprivation, unemployment, forcible repatriation, and visa crises. Although along-with UNCHR, the Government of Pakistan is taking substantial steps to improve refugees' conditions, they are still facing several considerable issues. These difficulties are mainly endangering Afghan immigrants' survival in Pakistan; however, there are minimal investigations to scrutinise the reasons behind existing predicaments and their solutions. Therefore, the authors recommend empirical inquiries concerning the refugee crisis (health, unemployment, repatriation, and visa restriction and education) to ensure fundamental rights provision and a better future for the world's most extensively displaced settlers in Pakistan.

Keywords: Soviet-Afghan war; refugee crisis; human rights; Afghan immigrants; living standard; UNCHR.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2022.119452

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2022 Vol.9 No.1, pp.67 - 85

Received: 04 May 2021
Accepted: 12 May 2021
Published online: 05 Dec 2021 *

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