9. RECOMMENDATIONS TO ALL UN MEMBER STATES AND STATES THAT HAVE FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED AFGHAN CIVIL SOCIETY; AND Countries that have already pledged support for at-risk Afghans, as well as those who are yet to make these commitments, should protect and respect the rights of all refugees and asylum seekers, including by:1. Immediately halting all deportations and forced returns; and ensuring the protection of all Afghans in their territories, through granting refugee status or other forms of international protection. 2. In particular, States should consider all Afghan women and girls as prima facie refugees, on the grounds of high risk of gender-based persecution upon return to Afghanistan. 3. Suspending visa requirements and/or expediting humanitarian visas to at-risk groups – including journalists, members of civil society, human rights defenders, in particular, women human rights defenders, and other women who worked in security, justice and judicial sectors, and members of minority ethnic and religious groups. Visa requirements should be suspended at least until embassies and consulates reopen in Afghanistan, and visa-granting processes function in a prompt, effective, and transparent way. Those countries whose visagranting processes for Afghans are still functioning in a prompt, transparent, and effective way, should expedite humanitarian visas and/or grant minimal documentation requirements for these groups. 4. Neighbouring countries should commit to maintaining open borders for refugees and implementing measures to ensure that border crossings are safe. 5. States with resources to do so, should open or increase safe pathways to protection, such as resettlement and community sponsorship, offering places proportionate to the scale of the crisis, while considering the particular situation of women. 6. The United States of America, European Union and its members, UK, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia must work to ensure those who are at risk in Afghanistan, particularly those working for them, are granted safe passage and resettlement in one of these countries. 7. All states party to the Rome Statute must cooperate, and press Afghanistan’s government to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity, including crimes committed by the Taliban and affiliated forces. 8. While welcoming the continuous engagement towards humanitarian aid for the suffering population in Afghanistan, states supporting development and humanitarian aid and engaging the Taliban authorities should demand a commitment to uphold human rights treaties, ratified and binding upon Afghanistan. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, PARTICULARLY VIA THE UNITED NATIONS TO:1. Ensure safe passage for all people trying to leave Afghanistan. a. Ensure that access to the airports is permitted to everyone by the Taliban. The United Nations and the international community via the UNAMA, or through a specially appointed mandate holder, or through bi-lateral engagements by state parties, must commence negotiations with the authorities in Afghanistan and the authorities of neighbouring countries to ensure safe passage for refugees to countries sharing landborders with Afghanistan. THE FATE OF THOUSANDS HANGING IN THE BALANCE: AFGHANISTAN’S FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE TALIBAN Amnesty International 27