Kabul (dpa) - A flight carrying a group of failed asylum seekers deported from Germany touched down in Kabul on Thursday, the International Organization for Migration confirmed.There were 27 people on board the plane from Frankfurt, the biggest such group since January, sources told dpa. A spokeswoman for the German Ministry of the Interior (BMI) said that 17 of them were considered criminals and another eight were "people who actively refused to cooperate in establishing their identity."Two were reportedly classed as "Gefaehrder" (a potential risk to the public) but the BMI did not give details into the accusations against them. Afghan authorities said that no one had been handed over to their police force on arrival.Since December 2016, the German government has forcibly deported 128 Afghan nationals in seven groups, not including this week‘s group, as part of efforts to show the country is tackling the high number of migrant arrivals in 2015 and 2016 by removing those who do not qualify as refugees.Just a few hours before the deportation flight to Afghanistan, another one returning 28 male failed asylum seekers to Pakistan took off from Berlin. Pakistani authorities confirmed their arrival late Thursday.The Afghan deportations in particular have drawn criticism in some corners however, due to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. In Germany, failed asylum seekers can only be forcibly deported if their country of origin is deemed safe enough for them to return. Afghanistan was reclassified as a country secure enough to allow for deportation in 2016.Five hundred activists turned out to protest the deportation at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday evening. They held placards proclaiming "No person is illegal," and chanted "No wall around Europe, permanent residency rights for all."Yet other voices in Germany are calling for a review of whether failed asylum seekers from Syria, a country currently deemed unsafe to the ongoing civil war which has dogged the country since 2012, could now legitimately be deported. At a Thursday meeting of the interior ministers of the German states, representatives from the states of Saxony and Bavaria called for a reassessment of the situation in the country.The UN‘s Refugee Agency (UNCHR) voice opposition in Berlin on Thursday against the proposed reclassification of Syria. The UNCHR said the vast majority of Syrian asylum seekers still needed protection due to "the serious and widespread violations of international law and human rights as well as the ongoing armed conflict in many parts of the country."
