AI urges to stop refugee deportation to Afghanistan

The Finland Chapter of Amnesty International on Wednesday urged the Finnish authorities to be refrained from deporting rejected asylum seekers to Afghanistan, National broadcasting corporation Yle reported quoting an interview of an official of AI.

Talking to Yle Radio 1, Frank Johansson, Director of AI, Finland reiterated the demand for stopping all repatriations of the asylum seekers to Afghanistan.

"We’ve had a clear stance on this for more than a year. This is a very strong position, as we don’t make the same demand about any other country," said the Yle report, quoting Johansson as saying to the radio interview.

Meanwhile, the Finnish authorities are issuing contradictory statements about the security situation in Afghanistan during the recent period, said the Yle report.

On Tuesday at the same programme the Finnish ambassador to Afghanistan, Hannu Ripatti claimed that the situation of violence in Afghanistan at this moment is not bad.

He said that the situation had been exaggerated by the media. The envoy also claimed that the human casualties in road accidents in Afghanistan are higher than the number of causalities in fighting.

However, two weeks ago, Olli Ruohomäki, a senior advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that conditions in Afghanistan were worsening and that there was no safe corner of the country, the Yle report added.