Human Rights

The Taliban takeover in Kabul, the frantic evacuation efforts of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans, and the fear among those left behind of being targeted by the new regime are shining a spotlight on the double-edged nature of government data collection as well as digital communication tools in times of crisis.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in recent days has brought new dimensions of  human suffering and political crisis. Afghans are fearful of encountering hostile environments in their neighbouring countries and, in the case of Pakistan, possible security threats for ethnic and religious minorities. 

Just days after Taliban violently seized control of Afghanistan, the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, has warned of a repeat of the situation in 2015 and announced that Greece will not be the “gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants”.

The undeniable connections among the multiple crises that humanity faces today -- climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, poverty, and the Covid-19 pandemic -- demand interconnected, rather than segmented, macro solutions. Responses must be systemic and address the structural dynamics and shortcomings of governance, economics and finance. A feminist and decolonial framing provides a lens for proposed reforms.

The crisis associated with the Covid19 pandemic has a gender, and clearly shows social inequalities of all kinds. It particularly affects women, as well as disadvantaged and variously marginalised groups. There are also attempts to exploit the pandemic for short-term political goals directly targeting women's rights.

Twenty years after the Tampere European Council of 1999, where political guidelines on the cooperation between the fields of immigration, police and justice were discussed and set, 30 civil societies and municipalities from Germany, France, Poland, Italy and other EU member states are calling for a new start in European asylum and migration policy.