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For decades, the Pakistan-Afghan border was virtually open, with tens of thousands crossing in each direction every day to visit relatives or seek work without requiring a passport or visa. Photo: Reuters / Al Jazeera.
Afghan Refugees Return Home Amid Pakistan Crackdown
Pakistan – Al Jazeera: Torkham is a maze of chain-link fences and razor wire. Stern-faced Pakistani guards, their rifles loaded and at the ready, watch on as Afghan visitors quietly circumnavigate the multiple checks of their papers at the main border crossing between the two South Asian countries, writes Asad Hashim.
Nearby, a group of about two dozen children watch, as they await an uncertain future and possible deportation under a newly instituted regime of strict Pakistani rules governing the entry of Afghan nationals across this border.
It was not always like this. For decades, the Pakistan-Afghan border was virtually open, with tens of thousands crossing in each direction each day to visit relatives or seek work without requiring passport or visa.
Since 1979, millions of Afghans have used this border crossing to seek refuge from war and violence in their country. They fled the Soviet invasion in 1979, then the Taliban's excesses in the 1990s, and, finally, the 2001 US-led invasion of their country in 2001, and the chaos that followed.
Today, there are 1.32 million registered Afghan refugees still in Pakistan, along with an estimated more than a million undocumented others.
Things changed for the worse, however, in June last year, when a clash between the Pakistani and Afghan militaries at Torkham border left at least four Pakistani and Afghan soldiers dead and several others wounded.
The relationship between the two countries soured in the wake of the deadly clashes. Pakistan has tightened border restrictions and, rights groups and refugees allege, begun cracking down on refugees, forcing them to return home.
Last year, at least 606,905 registered and undocumented refugees repatriated back to Afghanistan from Pakistan, according to UNHCR and IOM. By comparison, that is roughly double the number of refugees that fled war in Syria, Iraq and Libya to reach Europe by boat across the Mediterranean Sea in the same period.
German spending on integrating migrants is boosting growth and trimming the country’s budget surplus. File photo: Remi Itani / IOM
Germany Spends on Migrants, Boosting Growth as Budget Surplus Soars
Germany – Reuters: Germany posted a record budget surplus last year helped by rising tax revenues and employment and low debt costs, creating conditions for solid economic growth in 2017 underpinned by higher state and household spending, writes Michael Nienaber.
The German state has been running a surplus for three years, with the gap rising to 23.7 billion euros ($25 billion) in 2016, the highest since the country reunified in 1990, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
That has created a huge fiscal buffer at a time when authorities are working to house and integrate hundreds of thousands of immigrants, and separate Statistics Office data showed higher state spending was a factor in boosting economic growth to 1.9 percent last year.
Under Germany's budget law, the federal government's surplus of 7.7 billion euros will go into a fund for refugee-related expenditure.
The economic growth rate for 2016 was the strongest in half a decade, and the Finance Ministry said it expected spending by households and public authorities to drive gross domestic product growth again this year - consolidating a shift away from the export activity that traditionally powered Europe's biggest economy.
For the latest Mediterranean Update data on arrivals and fatalities please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe
A global database tracking data on deceased and missing migrants along migratory routes. Please visit: MissingMigrants.iom.int
“(The) legal migrant is a blessing for a country. But illegal migrants create health, social, economic and political issues for a country.” – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Read more here.
Migration in the News
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IPS and the UN News reported on the 2nd Global Consultation on Migrant Health held in Sri Lanka last week. The meeting, attended by representatives from over 40 countries, adopted a “Colombo Statement,” which aims to address the health challenges of increasingly mobile populations.
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Daily Sabah and ARA News reported that according to IOM some 13,924 immigrants have entered the European Union by sea so far in 2017. An estimated 366 have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
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Kuwait News Agency reported that IOM is appealing for USD 76.8 million to provide lifesaving assistance to displaced and conflict-affected people in South Sudan.
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Sputnik reported that 70 Spanish NGOs organized massive rallies across the country on Sunday, calling on the government and EU member states to accept more refugees.
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El Periódico Mediterráneo reported that according Pro-Human Rights of Andalusia (APDH-A) – an NGO – 295 migrants died while trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to reach Spain in 2016.
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Libya Prospect reported that according to Amnesty International, rival forces in Libya have carried out indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians, forcing thousands to become internally displaced and causing a humanitarian crisis.
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AP reported that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) handed over 13 minors to the ICRC as part of a commitment to gradually liberate all children under 15 serving in its ranks.
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La Prensa Grafica reported that El Salvador’s General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME) said that at least 52,548 Salvadoreans were deported last year. Some 21,340 were returned from the United States and 31,147 from Mexico.
Trending on the Internet
- Self reported that the 2017 Oscars got political – from fashion statements to actual speeches. Hot topics included migration and immigrants.
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