The Netherlands does not need to make ‘extra efforts’ to get three Afghan families from Kabul to the Netherlands as quickly as possible. “It is not likely that it can be done faster”, the court of The Hague ruled in summary proceedings today.
The summary proceedings were brought at the end of last year by four Afghan families who are on the Dutch evacuation list. These are relatives of interpreters who worked for the Netherlands in Afghanistan. They have been in hiding since August (when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan), fearing being arrested by the Taliban and wanting to leave the country as soon as possible.
During the hearing of the summary proceedings at the beginning of January, the Dutch state stated that ‘hopefully it will be able to arrange the evacuation within a month’. “But we can’t make firm promises, it’s a very complicated situation,” the state attorney said at the time.
Until recently, not all family members had a passport, so they could not leave Afghanistan
The judge now agrees with the state. “The state recognizes that three families must be brought to the Netherlands, but that it is not easy to achieve this. Until recently, not all family members had passports, so they could not leave Afghanistan. Because it is not plausible that they can be evacuated faster than at present, these claimants have insufficient interest in their claims.”
fourth family
A fourth family is even less fortunate. The mother of that family is a teacher at a girls’ school and fights for women’s rights in Afghanistan. The crisis team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially ‘registered’ her and her family on a list, but announced at the end of November that the family is not eligible for evacuation after all. According to the judge, the state is ‘not obliged to bring this family to the Netherlands’. “However, communication with this family has been extremely unfortunate. That is why the judge has advised the state to still offer this family the opportunity to come to the Netherlands.”
Panic
Last summer, the Taliban invaded Afghanistan. In a panic, Western countries evacuated their embassy staff and tens of thousands of Afghans with whom they had worked for the past 20 years. The Netherlands has removed more than 3000 people in recent months, but there are probably still 1500 names on the evacuation list. There is no clarity about when and how they can leave.
Advocate Barbara Wegelin of the four families previously said she was “very happy” with the state attorney’s decision that evacuation could take place within a month. “But that wasn’t really a firm commitment. It’s been about ‘preparations’ for months, why don’t we just do it?”
Evacuations from Afghanistan are mainly done in two ways: by flight from Kabul airport to Doha in Qatar or by land via Pakistan.
This is how the chaotic evacuation from Kabul went:
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.
#Court #Netherlands #rush #extra #retrieving #Afghan #evacuees