WRITTEN QUESTION E-2566/02 by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission. Mass repatriation of Afghan refugees.
Date: 2002-09-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Afghanistan, UNHCR, forced migration, human rights, public safety, return migration, the EU's international role

14.8.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 192 E/67

(2003/C 192 E/065)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2566/02

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(16 September 2002)

Subject: Mass repatriation of Afghan refugees

The prevailing insecurity in Afghanistan, which is related to the climate of violence in the country (cid:1)
ongoing conflict, crime, banditry, the violation of women’s rights, the presence of mines and the American
forces’ bombing campaign (cid:1) together with the incapacity to absorb repatriated Afghans, are a direct threat
to the safe return of Afghan refugees who are displaced internally in the country and abroad.

In its report entitled ‘Continuing need for protection and standards for return of Afghan refugees’, Amnesty
International expresses concern at the policy of mass repatriation promoted by the UNHCR in cooperation
with the countries sheltering Afghan refugees, stressing that, in such circumstances, international standards
should apply, as they are of vital importance to ensure that Afghan refugees can return in safety and
dignity. Otherwise, the organisation warns that the situation may result in renewed cycles of displacement.

Will the Commission intervene to prevent the use of compulsory and coercive measures to return to
Afghanistan refugees who may suffer serious human rights abuses, and to ensure that international
standards of protection for refugees are applied?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(31 October 2002)

The Honourable Member is referred to the answer given by the Commission to Oral Question H-0666/02
from Mr Lund (1) at Parliament’s October 2002 Part-Session II.

(1) Written Answer of 22.10.2002.

(2003/C 192 E/066)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2581/02

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: The Morrazo superhighway in Galicia

(16 September 2002)

The Galician government has planned a superhighway along the Morrazo peninsula. The route follows the
mountainside for a distance of 21,5 km. The inhabitants of Morrazo accept the need for the road, but
consider that with the envisaged route and the technical solutions adopted, the road will cause serious
social and economic problems and damage to the environment and landscape, which can and must be
avoided. The peninsula is densely populated along a coastline with fishing and commercial ports and
creeks and beaches which are among the best in Galicia, and a population scattered over a spectacular and
beautiful mountain landscape.

The Galician government published the information study on the project
in August 2000. The
environmental impact assessment on the road was published by the government in July 2001, and the
route and declaration of public interest of the project were approved in September that year. The
preliminary acts for the occupation of the land to be expropriated are in the process of being signed. In
opposition to the project submitted by the Galician government in the public information procedure, a
large number of inhabitants of Morrazo (cid:1) 4 000 people belonging to neighbourhood associations and
groups sharing common land and water supply (cid:1) have filed objections against parts of the route and the
technical solutions which appeared in the information study published by the government in August 2000.
In actual fact, many of the objections submitted by the inhabitants were incorporated by the government
in its environmental assessment study of July 2000, but were not considered in the government project
itself. The objections submitted by the inhabitants were ignored and the government even ignored the
statements made by the Morrazo municipal authorities.