Monitoring of Discontinued Humanitarian Admission Programmes for Afghanistan – The Situation of Those Affected

At the beginning of 2025, the German Federal Government discontinued the humanitarian admission programmes for Afghans seeking protection who are particularly at risk under the Taliban regime. At the end of the same year, the admission commitments of around 1,000 people were withdrawn – many of whom had previously spent years waiting in Pakistan for their departure to Germany. Due to expired visas, they are now at risk of police violence and deportation to Afghanistan, where they face not only persecution by the Taliban but also catastrophic humanitarian conditions. Many of them are now in Afghanistan and are living under extremely difficult circumstances.

Through the project “Monitoring of Discontinued Humanitarian Admission Programmes for Afghanistan”, together with the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at LMU Munich and the Alliance of Hamburg Refugee Initiatives, we document the risks, threats and living conditions faced by those affected.

The aim is to provide the public, the media and political decision-makers with reliable, evidence-based information about the situation of those affected.

Protection of Participants

The safety of the people we speak with takes precedence over any research interest. All participants decide voluntarily whether to take part, after receiving clear and understandable information about how their data will be used and with the option to withdraw their consent at any time without any negative consequences. The collected data is anonymised and stored and analysed in a way that prevents any conclusions from being drawn about individual persons. We publish results exclusively in a form that ensures that no participant can be identified. The academic support provided by the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at LMU Munich ensures that data collection and analysis comply with recognised standards of research ethics.