Posted by ‘Here we are beggars’: Afghan refugees languish in Madagascar
A small group of Afghan refugees say they are trapped on African island nation without healthcare, education or work.
Published On 11 Apr 202211 Apr 2022
Antananarivo, Madagascar – Bibi Maria fled Afghanistan shortly after the Taliban killed her husband, a supplier for US and NATO troops. That was in 2018, and the mother of four said she felt it was a matter of time before threats against the rest of her family were realised.
With few countries open to Afghans, she decided to travel to Madagascar, an island nation off the coast of southeast Africa that she had never visited and where she knew no one, but where she and her four children could get a visa on arrival.
But four years later, with her adult children unable to continue school, receive proper healthcare, or make money in the country, and no updates on her 2019 application to relocate to the United States under the US Refugee Admissions Program, she wondered if she made the right choice.
“Here we have become beggars,” Maria told Al Jazeera, wearing a black niqab and holding in her arms the infant daughter of another Afghan family, in an apartment in a central neighbourhood of the capital Antananarivo.
“We can’t go back, but we can’t stay here. So what do we do? We are stuck in the middle of nowhere,” she said.
Lack of formal support
Given its isolation and underdevelopment, Madagascar, a nation of about 30 million people, is not a magnet for refugees.
According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), there are currently 180 registered refugees in the country, mainly from Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are an additional 109 asylum seekers in the country, according to the agency.
The UN has said the Malagasy government, which is emerging from years of political crisis, offers refugees and asylum seekers protection from expulsion or forced return to their home countries, but has no law to provide them with social support, work authorisation, or healthcare.
However, the government pledged at the 2018 Global Refugee Forum to open an office for refugees and stateless people, and has “taken steps” towards the promise, according to UNHCR spokesman Buchizya Mseteka. With no UNHCR office in the country, “basic material support” for refugees and asylum seekers is provided through a local agency partner, he said.
Meanwhile, Madagascar remains woefully underdeveloped as it emerges from years of political crisis and allegations of corruption. More than 77 percent of the population lives in poverty and devastating natural disasters are common.
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