Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Refugees from Afghanistan are afraid of returning home because of persecution and the generally unsafe situation. The United Nations refugee agency is calling on the Ukrainian authorities not to send eight refugees from Afghanistan back to their native country until their need for protection is assessed, the press service of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees reported on Nov. 18.

This group of citizens, consisting of five children aged 4-10 years, one teenager and two women, is currently awaiting return in Boryspil airport.

They told Ukrainian border guards and the UN's refugee agency that they are afraid of returning home because of persecution and the generally unsafe situation. The Afghanis said they wanted to ask to be given the status of refugees in Ukraine.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees believes these people should not be returned back to a country in which their lives could be in danger. The right to seek asylum is a basic human right, according the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And the return of people who are seeking asylum may amount to the violation of the "non-refoulement principle" foreseen by the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951. Ukraine is a full party to the convention, and thus undertook obligations to provide international protection for refugees.