Austria to sign deal with Uzbekistan on Afghan deportations

VIENNA: Austria will sign an agreement with Uzbekistan next month to facilitate deportations, including to Afghanistan via the central Asian country, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

EU nations are scouting potential partner nations outside the bloc to host so-called “return hubs” for failed asylum-seekers and other initiatives to curb migration.

While EU lawmakers and member states iron out details, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands said in March they were moving ahead with planning and coordinating.

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Austria’s interior and foreign ministers will travel to Uzbekistan on May 7 for the signing of an agreement to facilitate deportations, said a government statement.

“It is an important agreement for the transit of people facing deportation to their home country – especially Afghanistan,” interior ministry spokesman Markus Haindl told AFP.

Since last year, Austria has deported several Afghans, a first for the Alpine nation since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

It has also sent back several Syrians to Syria, where long-time strongman Bashar al-Assad was ousted in 2024.

Last week, Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, said he was deeply concerned the European Union was set for talks with Taliban officials on deporting Afghans.

He warned that returns to Afghanistan “risk breaching the principle of non-refoulement due to widespread human rights violations”.

The principle of non-refoulement holds that migrants should not be returned to a country where they face harm or persecution.

The EU has been working on plans to deport those with no right to stay in the bloc back to Afghanistan, despite concerns from rights groups and the UN refugee agency.