Afghan refugees, migrants protest in UAE over uncertain future

Afghan refugees and migrants living in limbo at a United Arab Emirates (UAE) facility for nearly a year since being evacuated from Afghanistan held fresh protests this week over what they say is a slow and opaque resettlement process. Hundreds of Afghans carried banners and shouted for freedom on Monday and Tuesday, two Afghans in the facility told Reuters, estimating thousands were still awaiting resettlement to the United States or third countries.

Afghan refugees and migrants living in limbo at a United Arab Emirates (UAE) facility for nearly a year since being evacuated from Afghanistan held fresh protests this week over what they say is a slow and opaque resettlement process.

Hundreds of Afghans carried banners and shouted for freedom on Monday and Tuesday, two Afghans in the facility told Reuters, estimating thousands were still awaiting resettlement to the United States or third countries. Images and videos shared with Reuters showed children, women and men protesting inside the facility in Abu Dhabi, known as Emirates Humanitarian City, with temperatures in the Gulf Arab state reaching 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

One boy held a small banner that read: "One year is enough!" Emirati authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi had no immediate comment about the protests or resettlement process.

"Nearly one year, we have been here in detention and the camp is like a modern prison. No one is allowed to go out, they don't know when (we) will be settled permanently to any country," one of the Afghans said on the condition of anonymity. Protests first erupted at the facility in February after the resettlement process appeared to have stalled, prompting a visit by a senior U.S. State Department official who said all Afghans there would be resettled by August.

The process resumed shortly after the visit. At the time, there were an estimated 12,000 Afghans at the facility in the capital Abu Dhabi and another site nearby. The United States has since August last year taken in over 85,000 Afghans, including many who were processed in the Middle East and Europe. The two Afghans speaking to Reuters said the mental health of those in the tightly-controlled facility was deteriorating due to the uncertainty over their future.

Both said they did not know when they would be resettled. #AfghanEvac, a coalition of volunteer groups advocating on behalf of Afghans to the U.S. government, wrote on Twitter after protests broke out that the process had not stalled and those in the UAE facility would be resettled in the United States or elsewhere.

UAE officials have said the country offered to temporarily host thousands of Afghans evacuated on behalf of the United States and other Western nations after Afghanistan's Western-backed government collapsed and the Taliban took over. Others arrived later on chartered flights. The UAE, like other Gulf states, typically does not accept refugees.

U.S. officials have said all those who qualify will be resettled in the United States, while others who do not will be resettled in third nations. No one would be forced to return to Afghanistan, according to U.S. officials, though some in the UAE returned voluntarily after months of waiting. Among Afghans who have been held in the UAE, advocates say, are those who worked with the U.S. government, military, other coalition partners and foreign charities during the war.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)