Country Report Afghanistan
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INTERACT – RESearcHING THIRD COUNTRY NatiONALS’ INTEGratiON AS A THREE-WAY PROCESS - IMMIGrantS, COUNTRIES OF EMIGratiON AND COUNTRIES OF IMMIGratiON AS ActORS OF INTEGratiON Co-financed by the European Union Country Report Afghanistan Agnieszka Weinar INTERACT Research Report 2014/26 © 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be distributed, quoted or reproduced in any form without permission from the INTERACT Project. CEDEM INTERACT Researching Third Country Nationals’ Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration Research Report Country Report INTERACT RR2014/26 Country Report Afghanistan Agnieszka Weinar Migration Policy Centre, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence © 2014, European University Institute Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Any additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Requests should be addressed to [email protected] If cited or quoted, reference should be made as follows: Agnieszka Weinar, Country Report Afghanistan, INTERACT RR 2014/26, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI): European University Institute, 2014. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION CANNOT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE REGARDED AS THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/Publications/ http://interact-project.eu/publications/ http://cadmus.eui.eu INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals’ Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration Around 25 million persons born in a third country (TCNs) are currently living in the European Union (EU), representing 5% of its total population. Integrating immigrants, i.e. allowing them to participate in the host society at the same level as natives, is an active, not a passive, process that involves two parties, the host society and the immigrants, working together to build a cohesive society. Policy-making on integration is commonly regarded as primarily a matter of concern for the receiving state, with general disregard for the role of the sending state. However, migrants belong to two places: first, where they come and second, where they now live. While integration takes place in the latter, migrants maintain a variety of links with the former. New means of communication facilitating contact between migrants and their homes, globalisation bringing greater cultural diversity to host countries, and nation-building in source countries seeing expatriate nationals as a strategic resource have all transformed the way migrants interact with their home country. INTERACT project looks at the ways governments and non-governmental institutions in origin countries, including the media, make transnational bonds a reality, and have developed tools that operate economically (to boost financial transfers and investments); culturally (to maintain or revive cultural heritage); politically (to expand the constituency); legally (to support their rights). INTERACT project explores several important questions: To what extent do policies pursued by EU member states to integrate immigrants, and policies pursued by governments and non-state actors in origin countries regarding expatriates, complement or contradict each other? What effective contribution do they make to the successful integration of migrants and what obstacles do they put in their way? A considerable amount of high-quality research on the integration of migrants has been produced in the EU. Building on existing research to investigate the impact of origin countries on the integration of migrants in the host country remains to be done. INTERACT is co-financed by the European Union and is implemented by a consortium built by CEDEM, UPF and MPI Europe. For more information: INTERACT Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (EUI) Villa Malafrasca Via Boccaccio 151 50133 Florence Italy Tel: +39 055 46 85 817/892 Fax: + 39 055 46 85 755 Email: [email protected] Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/ Abstract The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan does not have concrete policies focussing on emigration and/or the diaspora. Despite the large numbers of Afghan nationals residing outside the country, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan does not have an overall policy-framework related to migration. This report describes the existing structures and laws that can have an impact on emigration from Afghanistan and on Afghanistan’s diaspora. Key words: Afghani migration policy, Afghani migration, Afghani diaspora Table of contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2. State-level emigration or diaspora policies – national level ................................................................ 9 2.1 Return migration ..................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Diaspora: remittances and foreign direct investments .......................................................... 10 2.3 Diaspora: dual citizenship ..................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Management and responsibility ............................................................................................ 12 3. Engagement of non-state actors ........................................................................................................ 14 References ............................................................................................................................................. 15 Annexes (available in the INTERACT database) ................................................................................. 16 Legal documents ......................................................................................................................... 16 Other relevant documents ........................................................................................................... 16 INTERACT RR2014/26 © 2014 EUI, RSCAS 1. Introduction The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan does not have concrete policies focussing on emigration and/or the diaspora. Despite the large numbers of Afghan nationals residing outside the country, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan does not have an overall policy-framework related to migration. Currently three different migration-related policies are under development: • in December 2012 a labour migration policy draft was completed. However (because of its quality and feasibility) a new national labor migration policy (NLMP) was developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM); • the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) policy was granted presidential approval in 2014 and was officially launched on 11 February 2014. Concrete implementation strategies are currently under development under the supervision of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR); • Recently the development of a return migration policy has been initiated by MoRR and a draft policy framework has been developed. Despite the large numbers of Afghans residing outside the country and the large out-flows of (economic) migrants on a monthly basis, emigration is low on political agendas and little attention is paid to migration-related issues. If attention is paid to migration-related issues, concepts are often incorrectly framed. This happens because the majority of Afghan politicians (working both in and outside the field of migration) are not aware or have low capacity to distinguish between different migration-related terminology. An example is the understanding of definitions such as (economic) migrant, migrant worker, refugee and asylum-seeker. Which results in the fact that these terms are regularly ‘miss-used’ when developing strategies and policies. Afghanistan has experienced decades of conflict, which has caused large outflows of migrants seeking asylum or refugee status in neighbouring countries and beyond. Up to date the focus within the Afghan migration context is on refugees, asylum seekers and IDPs, which largely ignores economic (driven) migration and the benefits of diaspora engagement for development. This is also partially reflected in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS)1 for 2008 to 2013, in which refugees and IDPs are highlighted under Pillar 7 (social protection). The action plan under ANDS aims to reach various objectives related to migration by setting concrete policy actions and activities. The objectives and outcomes that are related to refugees and IDPs for 2013 under Pillar 7 include:2 • the government’s capacity to manage and support return and reintegration programmes is strengthened; • refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) return voluntarily according to agreed principles and procedures; • voluntary refugees have returned; • the government’s capacity has been strengthened; • the terms of stay and conditions for Afghans in neighbouring countries have improved; • bilateral agreements on temporary labour migration have progressed. 1 See Annex