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AFGHANISTAN

‘Slave-like conditions’ on Swedish army base

Kitchen staff at the Swedish military base in Afghanistan have been working under "slave-like conditions", being forced to pay for employment, according to a report by Swedish daily Expressen.

Published: 7 January 2012 16:02 CET
'Slave-like conditions' on Swedish army base

“It makes me livid,” Colonel Anders Löfberg told the paper.

“As a Swede you get outraged over all the injustices and we look at this type of exploitation very seriously.”

At a routine check at the Swedish military base in Afghanistan, the Swedish Armed Forces discovered the inhumane conditions the staff were subjected to and put their staffing service, Swiss company Supreme, against the wall.

Supreme then carried out an internal investigation and has confirmed that they had hired a recruitment agency to find personnel for the kitchens.

It was allegedly this company which forced the staff to pay for their jobs, which in practice meant they had to hand over up to eight month’s pay in return for employment.

Most of the workers are Indian or Nepalese and the responsible company is believed to be located in India.

Supreme has since notified the Swedish Armed Forces that they will report the company and carry out an investigation into the suspicions of human trafficking.

The company also claimed to have cancelled their contract with the Indian company, but has as of yet made no promises regarding compensation for the exploited personnel, according to Expressen.

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AFGHANISTAN

Spain starts evacuating Afghan employees via Pakistan

Spain was on Monday evacuating via Pakistan Afghan helpers left behind when western forces quit Kabul, a government source confirmed on condition of anonymity.

Published: 11 October 2021 15:58 CEST
A group of Afghan nationals stand on the tarmac after disembarking from the last Spanish evacuation flight at the Torrejon de Ardoz air base near Madrid in August. Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)
A group of Afghan nationals stand on the tarmac after disembarking from the last Spanish evacuation flight at the Torrejon de Ardoz air base near Madrid in August. Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)

The government source declined to give any details of the move, citing security concerns.

But Spanish media, including daily El País and National Radio, reported that Madrid would bring close to 250 Afghan citizens, who had already crossed into Pakistan and would be flown out on military transport planes.

The first flight was expected to arrive on Monday evening.

Spain’s evacuations have been weeks in the making, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares visiting Pakistan and Qatar in early September to lay the groundwork.

Madrid evacuated over 2,000 people, most of them Afghans who had worked for Spain and their families, during the western withdrawal as the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August.

But the flights had to stop once the final American troops that had been protecting the Afghan capital’s airport left.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in August that Spain would not “lose interest in the Afghans who had remained” in their country but wanted to leave.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, on Friday urged the bloc’s member states to host a “minimum” of between 10,000 and 20,000 more Afghan refugees.

“To welcome them, we have to evacuate them, and we’re getting down to it, but it’s not easy,” he said in Madrid.

The EU has said a demand by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to take in 42,500 Afghan refugees over five years can be achieved — although any decision lies with member states.

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