- Articles
The Vulnerability Contest
Traumatized Afghan child soldiers who were forced to fight in Syria struggle to find protection in Europe’s asylum lottery.
In-depth
KABUL
- Integration
- Refugee Voices
- Solutions
- Articles
- General
The Grand Refugee Hotel: The Sequel to My Grandfather’s Germany
On a visit to one of Germany’s most radical refugee integration experiments, U.S. migration journalist and academic Daniela Gerson went in search of her family history and found an increasingly uneasy relationship between past and present.
- Funding Peace
- Stability & Development
- Community
- Op-Eds
How Enterprises Can Help Build Peace in Afghanistan
Rabia Nusrat
Regional Projects Manager for Afghanistan-Pakistan, International Alert
Rabia Nusrat Regional Projects Manager for Afghanistan-Pakistan, International Alert
Medium-sized enterprises have the potential to contribute to peace and security in Afghanistan, but they need support from Kabul and the international community if they hope to address some of the drivers of conflict, writes Rabia Nusrat of International Alert.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Articles
- General
Afghans Returned From Europe Look to Escape War Again
Despite growing bloodshed in Afghanistan, fewer Afghans are recognized as refugees in Europe and many are sent home to a country still at war and struggling to integrate massive numbers of returnees, Ruchi Kumar reports for IRIN News.
- Economy
- Education
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Afghans Returned from Pakistan Struggle on Kabul Career Ladder
As hundreds of thousands of Afghans return from neighboring countries, young graduates face discrimination, language barriers and a dearth of connections in a country many had never been to before, Valerie Plesch reports for Al-Fanar Media.
- Integration
- Articles
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What Refugees in Germany Say About Islam and the West
Refugees coming to Germany bring with them vastly different ideas about religion. Now, their relationship with their faith is being shaped once again in their new country.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Community
- Experts Weigh In
Deeply Talks: Afghan Returns Risk New Cycles of Displacement
As Pakistan, Iran and Europe continue to send Afghans back to Afghanistan despite intensifying conflict in several provinces, Refugees Deeply talked to experts in Kabul about what returning refugees face amid soaring displacement inside the country.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Articles
- General
‘Help Us Stand on Our Own Feet’: Lives of Kabul’s Long-Term Displaced
Long-term displacement has become a feature of life in Afghanistan. Refugees Deeply’s senior editor Preethi Nallu profiles people in a displacement camp on the outskirts of Kabul, some of whom were born in mud settlements only ever meant to be temporary shelters.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Articles
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‘The Time to Go Home Has Come’: Afghans Return to Embattled Provinces
As more than 1 million Afghans return from Pakistan, alongside others coming back from Iran and Europe, Refugees Deeply’s senior editor Preethi Nallu tells the stories of families arriving in a country still embroiled in conflict.
- Education
- Innovation & Technology
- Integration
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Why a Refugee ‘Education Passport’ Is Being Tested in Greece
A European initiative to fast-track qualification checks for refugees aims to provide a clear account of their academic record and get more refugees into higher education, reports Nikolia Apostolou for Al-Fanar Media.
- Culture
- Q&A
The Fashion Startup Celebrating Afghanistan’s Stylish Legacy
Kabul used to be a fashion hotspot, but decades of war destroyed much of the country’s once-vibrant clothing culture. Now with her new label Laman, a young Afghan entrepreneur wants to bring back her country’s stylish reputation.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Laws & Policy
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- General
Tweeting Hatred: The Hounding of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan
As hundreds of thousands of Afghans are coerced into returning to Afghanistan from Pakistan, journalist Umer Ali examines the online hatred that has helped poison attitudes to refugees.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Laws & Policy
- Articles
- General
Waiting for a U.S. Visa in the Taliban Heartland
The U.S. special immigrant visa program offers a way out for Afghans in danger after working with the Americans. But delays have driven one Afghan interpreter in Kandahar back to the translation work that has already brought him death threats from the Taliban.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Op-Eds
Debunking Myths About Why People Migrate Across the Mediterranean
Vicki Squire
Associate Professor of International Security, University of Warwick
Vicki Squire Associate Professor of International Security, University of Warwick
Amid fears that Europe is being “flooded” with refugees and migrants, researcher Vicki Squire explains her study showing many refugees were not trying to reach Europe when they left home. Europe was not a pull factor, so deterrence strategies will not work, she writes.
- Gender-Based Violence
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Kabul’s All-Female Restaurant Gives Abuse Survivors a Taste of Freedom
One of the fixtures on Kabul’s dining scene is the only restaurant in the country run and staffed by women, all of whom have survived abuse at the hands of men in their families.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Articles
- General
Greece : Between Deterrence & Integration
Seven years of economic depression have not been kind to the city blocks around 17 Halkokondyli St., the office of the Greek ombudsman in downtown Athens. An alphabet soup of graffiti has been splattered across empty storefronts where “for rent” stickers alternate with ads for closing-down sales. Of the two grand squares nearby, Victoria is haunted by touts for people-smuggling gangs, while Omonia is home to a run-down hotel where stolen passports are rented to desperate migrants for $3,200 a go.
- Culture
- Heroes
- Q&A
Afghanistan’s First Female Conductor Braves Death Threats to Make Music
Negin Khpalwak has had to risk her life to become Afghanistan’s first female orchestra conductor. But she says it’s worth it – not only for the music, but also because she’s inspiring other Afghan women to assert their rights.
- Crisis and Conflict
- Articles
- General
Why Women Are Crucial to Fighting Radicalization in Afghanistan
Mariam Safi is one of just a handful of researchers focusing on the role of women in post-conflict peace building in Afghanistan. As part of our “Women and Jihad” series, she tells us about the pivotal role women can play in combating the Taliban.
- Education
- Community
- General
- Op-Eds
Without IDs, Afghan Women Remain Invisible in the Justice System
Marion Guillaume
Children and Youth Pillar Lead, Samuel Hall
Marion Guillaume Children and Youth Pillar Lead, Samuel Hall
Afghan women are often unable to obtain basic legal documents such as national IDs and marriage certificates, which makes it difficult to seek help from the courts when they are in trouble, says Marion Guillaume of the Samuel Hall think-tank.
- Crisis and Conflict
- General
Amid Mass Returns, a Teacher’s Hopes for Refugee Girls in Afghanistan
As hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees return from Pakistan, Refugees Deeply speaks to Aqeela Asifi, a prize-winning educator of refugee girls in the country’s Punjab province, about how the mass returns will impact girls’ education and thus the future of Afghanistan.
- Education
- Q&A
Amid Mass Returns, a Teacher’s Hopes for Refugee Girls in Afghanistan
As hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees return from Pakistan, we speak to Aqeela Asifi, a prize-winning educator of refugee girls in the country’s Punjab province, about how the mass returns will impact girls’ education and thus the future of Afghanistan.
- Crisis and Conflict
- General
10 Women Leading the Way in Counter-Extremism
The latest in our “Women and Jihad” series highlights women who have committed to combating the spread of extremist ideology, from saving Yazidi Kurds in Iraq to deradicalizing Boko Haram members in Nigeria.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Op-Eds
U.N. Refugee Agency Must Break Its Silence on Pakistan
Gerry Simpson
Senior Refugee Researcher and Advocate, Human Rights Watch
Gerry Simpson Senior Refugee Researcher and Advocate, Human Rights Watch
The UNHCR’s offer of cash to returning Afghan refugees makes it complicit in the coercion of people it is mandated to protect, says Human Rights Watch’s Gerry Simpson, author of a new report on Pakistani forced returns. He argues the U.N. agency has crossed a red line.
- Crisis and Conflict
- General
Fatima’s Fate: An Escape Bid That Ended in Tragedy
Desperate decisions on the road to refuge left a young Afghan mother disabled, bereaved and stranded. Her story, as told to Refugees Deeply, illustrates the appalling risks Afghan refugees are taking in the face of rising European asylum rejections and deportations.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Articles
- General
Fatima’s Fate: An Escape Bid That Ended in Tragedy
Desperate decisions on the road to refuge left a young Afghan mother disabled, bereaved and stranded. Her story illustrates the appalling risks Afghan refugees are taking in the face of rising European asylum rejections and deportations.
- Education
- General
Food4School: Getting Girls in the Classroom by Feeding Their Families
With her Food4School program, educator Marilyn Mosely Gordanier hopes that giving families money to buy food will allow them to pay for their daughters’ education and keep them from turning to child marriage to make ends meet.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Articles
- General
‘I Don’t Want to Go Back to Afghanistan to Get Butchered’
In the third part of our “Return to Afghanistan” series, Umer Ali meets transgender refugees who fear that being forced to leave Pakistan amounts to a death sentence.
- Integration
- Articles
- General
Refugees in Delhi Serve Up Memories on a Plate
Many of Delhi’s refugee communities center on an urban village called Khirkee Extension. There, refugees from Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq try to recreate the tastes of home while adjusting to the flavors of their new life.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Laws & Policy
- Articles
- General
Afghan Translators Hope U.S. Visas Will Arrive Before Taliban Does
Congress recently renewed a visa program for Afghans working with U.S. forces, but with far fewer openings than previous years. This has left thousands of Afghans living in fear as they wait out the backlog.
- Laws & Policy
- Articles
- General
Train to Nowhere: Refugees in Serbia Stranded on E.U. Border
As winter sets in, more than a thousand migrants are taking shelter in an abandoned train depot in the Serbian capital. Photojournalist Diego Cupolo meets the people trapped between closed E.U. borders.
- Education
- General
In Afghanistan, a Group of Women Move Mountains by Climbing Them
One charity is challenging cultural attitudes in Afghanistan by training all-female teams of mountaineers to scale some of Afghanistan’s highest peaks and experience the freedom they’ve long been denied.
- Crisis and Conflict
- Community
- General
- Op-Eds
One Year After Tabassum, Afghan Women Search for Their Own Voice
Nazifa Alizada
Graduate of the Asian University for Women
Nazifa Alizada Graduate of the Asian University for Women
The beheading of seven ethnic Hazara in 2015 saw unprecedented numbers of women across Afghanistan demonstrate for their rights. But in a country where they have so few, even the language of the protest movement is masculine, says Afghan researcher Nazifa Alizada.
- Education
- Articles
- General
10 Experts to Watch on Refugee Education
With 50 percent of refugee children unable to attend school, we look at some of the leading thinkers on refugee education in the third installment of our “Experts to Watch” series.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Refugee Voices
- Op-Eds
Young Afghans Returning From Europe Face Isolation and Fear Back Home
Nassim Majidi
Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
Nassim Majidi Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
In the final part of “Afghans on the Migration Trail,” migration scholar Nassim Majidi examines the difficulties faced by asylum seekers sent back from Europe to Afghanistan as they try to start new lives.
- Crisis and Conflict
- General
Rebels on Wheels: The Afghan Women’s Cycling Team Pedals Past Taboos
Members of the Afghan national women’s cycling team have kept on riding through misogyny, harassment and physical violence. Now a corruption scandal threatens to knock the trailblazers off their bikes for good.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Refugee Voices
- Op-Eds
Afghans Hoping for European Solidarity Find Cold Welcome
Nassim Majidi
Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
Nassim Majidi Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
In the fourth part of “Afghans on the Migration Trail,” researcher Nassim Majidi explains that many Afghans have the same expectations of solidarity from Europe that Europe has of Afghanistan. But many have been disappointed by their reception on the continent.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Refugee Voices
- Op-Eds
Call Us ‘Students’ Not ‘Refugees,’ say Afghans Migrating for Education
Nassim Majidi
Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
Nassim Majidi Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
In the third part of “Afghans on the Migration Trail,” migration specialist Nassim Majidi explores how the desire for education motivates young Afghans to leave the country – and argues that allowing them to study once they reach Europe is crucial for integration.
- Laws & Policy
- Op-Eds
We Must Redefine Vulnerability in the 2018 Refugee Compact
Behzad Yaghmaian
Professor of Political Economy, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Behzad Yaghmaian Professor of Political Economy, Ramapo College of New Jersey
With the U.N. refugee summit ending with no measurable commitments, political economy professor Behzad Yaghmaian breaks down the global compacts on refugees and regular migration – the main goals of the 2018 meeting – into a plan he says can be achieved in two years.
- Crises & Conflicts
- Refugee Voices
- Op-Eds
Afghan Refugees: Conversations Along the Migration Trail
Nassim Majidi
Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
Nassim Majidi Founder and Codirector, Samuel Hall
In the first part of our op-ed series “Afghans on the Migration Trail,” which coincides with the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, migration specialist Nassim Majidi discusses her research, illustrating the diverse tapestry of Afghans seeking asylum.
- Refugee Voices
- Articles
- General
Photo Essay: Afghan Asylum Seekers Stranded at Hungary-Serbia Border
As leaders met for the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, asylum seekers in Serbia – many of them Afghans – marched toward the border with Hungary. Photographer Danielle Villasana visited one of the makeshift settlements on the Serbian border where hundreds are stranded.