Pres. Ghani's Speech On World Refugee Day

June the 20th marks the World Refugee Day. Afghanistan is a country with millions of its population scattered as refugees around the world that is why our government and people attach high importance to this day.

Despite the fact that over the past fifteen years, more than six million refugees have returned home and resumed a peaceful life, millions other Afghans still reside out of their country. It is an imperative we make sure that no other Afghan is forced to leave his or her home and village. Not only a refugee issue abroad, Afghanistan is also dealing with hundreds of thousands of internally displaced population (IDP).

Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan alone make up about 95% of the total refugees we have in the world. I would like to express my gratitude to the peoples and governments of the two neighboring countries for hosting millions of our people. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations for assisting and standing by our refugees in difficult times. In my recent visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, both sides agreed to assign a joint commission to assess and review the Afghan refugees’ conditions in Iran. Let me thank the Leader of the Islamic Republic for issuing an order that gives the children of Afghan refugees the right to study in Iranian schools and madrassas.

Although most of the Afghans who have recently returned home have regained a peaceful and a happy life, and some of whom have begun as politicians, professionals and businessmen, a remarkable number still live in difficult conditions with their homes and properties illegally seized and their rights breached.  Furthermore, the townships where the returnees were supposed to reside either lack basic amenities or were forcefully taken by powerful individuals; we should put an end to such a predicament.

We intend to increase the authority and capacity of our consulate offices in those countries in order to address the problems that Afghans face. It is a fundamental obligation of the government to defend the rights of the Afghan citizens who live abroad. The refugees have certain rights that the world has recognized. All our efforts will be focused toward ensuring that our refugees enjoy their rights and that their children have the opportunity to get educated and learn new skills.

It is also worth mentioning that thousands of Afghans live as refugees in Europe, Australia, Canada, United States and other countries and have benefited from their hospitality and services. But recently an increasing number of Afghan refugees have faced the risk of getting expelled because of lack of documentation. 

My request to those countries is to take into account our problems this year and stop expelling Afghan asylum seekers. The story of our refugees is a sad part of our modern history.  Millions of Afghans have had to live away from their homes; they have had to suffer the hardships concomitant with being refugees. Unfortunately, this dire situation has not come to an end.

Afghans, regardless of where they have to live, do not forget their motherland. Our literature is replete with feelings of love for the homeland and bitter experience of having to live abroad. Our people know it better than anyone else how one’s dignity falls in the stranger’s land. (A verse of a Pashto poem translated) - Read More at the World Refugee Day
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani’s Speech On World Refugee Day 

پیام محمد اشرف غنی رئیس جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان به مناسبت روز جهانی مهاجرین 
رئیس جمهور غنی: تصميم و فيصله جدی ما اين است كه افغانستان را يك بار ديگر به خانه مشترك و امن همه افغان ها تبديل كنيم