HRW: UAE ‘arbitrarily detaining’ thousands of Afghan refugees

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have arbitrarily detained between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans for over 15 months in the “Emirates Humanitarian City,” a humanitarian logistics hub in Abu Dhabi, Human Rights Watch said. The UAE should urgently release those arbitrarily detained and provide access to fair and efficient processes for determining their status and protection needs.

In the weeks and months after the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, 2021, the United States, NATO, UAE, and other governments evacuated tens of thousands of Afghans to locations around the world. The UAE government took thousands of Afghans on private chartered flights to Abu Dhabi, and then transferred them to the Emirates Humanitarian City and Tasameem Workers City (TWC), another housing facility, pending onward movement. While many were later resettled in the US, Canada, and elsewhere, between 2,400 and 2,700 Afghans remain arbitrarily detained in the UAE as of early January 2023.

“Emirati authorities have kept thousands of Afghan asylum seekers locked up for over 15 months in cramped, miserable conditions with no hope of progress on their cases,” said Joey Shea, United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. “After enduring significant trauma fleeing Afghanistan, they are facing further trauma now, after spending well over a year in limbo in the UAE.”