The long journey to safety

“Why did you leave your country?”

Twenty-seven-year-old Hamid* had difficulty answering the question “Why did you leave your country?”

He was hesitant for a minute. Many painful memories rushed into his head. He remembered the horrible moments that made him take that decision.

Hamid worked as an office assistant at an international organization in Kabul, Afghanistan, to support his family. In 2015, he was on his way to work when a group of armed men stopped him at a checkpoint and asked to see his documents.

They found out about his identity and his work, and decided he was acting against their interests. They detained and tortured him for 12 days. Later, he was released, but it was clear that staying in the country was no longer safe for him. When his manager heard about the incident, he advised him to flee to another country and offered him some money.

It was a long journey. Hamid first went to Iran and stayed there for several months, then decided to leave for Türkiye because Iran did not grant him asylum status and he was at risk of being sent back to Afghanistan. In 2016, he arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, where he worked in different jobs such as shoemaking and knitting while trying to obtain a legal status. The attempts lasted for two years but they were all in vain. He stayed in Istanbul without any legal documents until 2021 when he was stopped by the police on his way to a hospital. Once they realized he was residing without any legal documents, the police detained Hamid for 35 days. “I prefer being detained,” he says. “I cannot go back and risk my life.”

The court was about to order the deportation of Hamid, when one of his relatives reached Refugees Rights Türkiye (RRT). With funding from the European Union and in partnership with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), this organization operates a Help Desk for persons under administrative detention or who are released from detention. RRT’s project team offers legal counselling and guidance on rights in detention. The RRT lawyer provided Hamid with legal information on his rights as an asylum seeker. “One of the challenges facing asylum seekers is the lack of knowledge on their rights,” says the lawyer. “[This] may put them at risk since they are not aware of how to deal with their situation.”

“I lived under threat for years”

The lawyer later interviewed Hamid to record his reasons for leaving Afghanistan. Due to the fact that he was in danger if he were to return there, he was identified as an eligible person for obtaining refugee status. RRT filed an appeal against the deportation decision.

The appeal was rejected in the first instance, then was finally accepted in August 2021, and RRT supported Hamid in his refugee status application “I cannot describe my feelings,” he says. “I lived under threat for years because I could not know how to obtain the document that protects me from being deported.”

RRT also assisted Hamid by referring him to another NGO, where he is currently receiving therapy as a torture survivor. His mental health is improving, but most importantly, he feels safe. He is able to walk freely without feeling afraid. He hopes to be resettled to a third country where he can pursue his studies and become a mechanical engineer and business owner.

Türkiye hosts the biggest number of refugees in the world, so it is important for the government to regulate the migrants’ flow into their lands. Still, the lack of knowledge and legal representation puts many refugees at risk of getting deported back to the countries from which they fled. DRC and RRT’s efforts continue to ensure that all refugees have access to legal protection and the information they need to access their rights under the law.

*Beneficiary’s name has been changed to protect his identity.