STA, 17 August 2021 - As the situation in Afghanistan has escalated, more Afghan citizens are likely to seek asylum in Slovenia in the coming week and months, as problems with the Taliban has so far been among the cited reasons for seeking international protection here, the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants has said.
There are 48 Afghan citizens who have been granted international protection in Slovenia, procedures are under way for another 46, while another 120 have expressed intent to file a request for it.
Since the beginning of 2005, 62 Afghan citizens have been granted international protection in Slovenia, the office has told the STA.
However, the actual number is lower because one has died, two have left Slovenia and several have been awarded Slovenian citizenship.
Still, the Afghans who are granted asylum largely stay here. "They regularly attend integration activities, learn the language, while children go to school."
The office expects more Afghans to seek protection in Slovenia as problems with the Taliban have so far been frequently cited as a reason for seeking international protection here, and as Afghans who have worked for the Slovenian army in Afghanistan have turned to Slovenia for help in recent weeks.
Among the asylum seekers in Slovenia are Afghans who have managed to escape the Taliban's attempts to recruit them or fled due to the general security situation there.
"There are also some other reasons such as blood feud, change of religion or homosexuality etc, but these are less frequent," the office has explained.
Unaccompanied Afghan citizens under the age of 18 often say they have lost touch with their family in Afghanistan or while fleeing from there.
Last year, 751 Afghanistan citizens asked for international protection in Slovenia.
The figure rose this year, as 750 asked for it in the first seven months alone, of whom 187 women and 563 single men.
The bulk of the single-man group were minors who came to Slovenia without their family.
However, the office has recently recorded a rise in the number of entire families seeking international protection and a rise in asylum seekers who have previously asked for international protection in another EU country and have been granted the status of refugee or subsidiary protection.
With the Taliban assuming power in Afghanistan, the question has arisen of police potentially sending Afghans who will not be granted asylum back to their country.
But under Slovenia's foreigners legislation, police cannot return migrants to their country if their lives would be at stake.
Slovenian Interior Ministry data shows that 24 Afghan citizens were sent back to Afghanistan in the last ten years.
