Judges rules Afghanistan is not a war zone

In a ruling which may pave the way for hundreds of asylum seekers to be returned home, officials belonging to the Immigration Tribunal have declared that Afghanistan is not unsafe despite the continued violence which ravages the war-torn region.

The bloody conflict which has plagued the region was not enough to convince a panel of experts that the area was unsafe and therefore open to receive plane loads of failed asylum seekers from Britain. Flights may soon be scheduled to southern Afghanistan despite ongoing casualties since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

On Wednesday a team of three judges from the Immigration an Asylum Tribunal made the ruling which stated that the rate of ‘indiscriminate violence’ in Afghanistan was not sufficient for citizens of that country to warrant humanitarian protection in the UK. Currently asylum seekers have the right to remain in the UK if they can convince a court that their lives are in danger at home. This week’s ruling makes the argument irrelevant.

Human rights refugee campaign groups have said the decision understates the level of violence and that few avenues were now open for Afghani migrants. A spokesperson for the UN Refugees Agency in the UK said that his organisation was in strong disagreement with the tribunal’s decision and said that returns in winter months should be outlawed altogether and that only Kabul should be open to returns.

In defense of their decision the judges agreed that the situation in Afghanistan is less than ideal but that the number of violent killings was far less than previously believed.