The Hazara refugees and the language translation dilemma

Case one:

Fatima and her parents have been living in London for four years. They are Hazaras. Recently, in a conversation on WhatsApp, she told me, “My parents are facing a serious problem. When they go to the doctor, they hire a Persian or Dari interpreter. Neither the interpreter understands Fatima’s parents, nor Fatima’s parents understand the interpreter’s translation.” Her parents speak Hazaragi, a Farsi-based creole language with borrowed words from Turkic-Mongol languages. It is spoken only by the Hazara people in central Afghanistan and those in the diaspora. 

Several times, she and her sister have accompanied her parents to the appointments. Yesterday, when we spoke on the phone, “My sister and I are both working. We can’t quit our jobs and become interpreters for our parents," said Fatima, explaining the family's dilemma of juggling work and volunteering as translators for their parents. "But we also know that no one can translate what my parents say except a Hazara interpreter.” 

She also mentioned that a Hazara family in their neighborhood has stopped going to the doctor and government offices altogether because of the difficulty in communicating with a non-Hazaragi interpreter, unless a volunteer community member comes to their aid.

Fatima's parents' dilemma with finding Hazaragi translators is not an isolated issue. A relative of mine in Canada has the same problem. She is a Hazara. Every time a Dari or Farsi translator is hired, neither she nor her husband understands the translator, and the translator does not understand them either. I sometimes volunteer to translate for them remotely when I have time.

Case two:

Four years ago, in the United States, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hired a non-Hazara translator (someone from a Pashtun or Tajik background) for a young Hazara man who had just crossed the Mexican border into the United States. After an hour of translation, the young Hazara was separated from the other immigrants and thrown into solitary confinement. Two months later, three FBI agents showed up at the door of one of his relatives in another state.

"That morning," Abbas says to me at his apartment as we are sipping green tea, "the doorbell rang. I opened the door. There, three men and one woman in plain clothes were standing."

Before he could finish asking how he could help them, they showed their badges and identified themselves as FBI agents.

Abbas continued: "They asked me, 'Do you know Ghulam Hussain?' I said, 'Yes. He is from our village. We went to school together. After 12th grade, he went to Kabul and studied at university, then got a job in the government and worked on US projects. He worked in the government until it collapsed."

Abbas, who is a distant relative of Ghulam Hussain, says the officers looked at each other, paused, and then asked whether Ghulam Hussain had gone to Iran and fought in Syria.

"Absolutely not," Abbas responded. "As far as I know, he never left Afghanistan. I have all his documents and records on my computer, by the way." Abbas told me that Ghulam Hussain had scanned and emailed all his documents before burning the originals to protect himself from Taliban persecution. "I opened my laptop and showed them all his school, university, and government records."

Then the FBI agents asked him to email all the PDFs to them, which he did. 

The non-Hazara translator mistranslated and lied to the customs officers, saying that Ghulam Hussain had traveled to Iran and fought in Syria. Abbas told me that the officers left his apartment, and in two weeks, Ghulam Hussain was released from the prison and granted asylum based on evidence of his collaboration with the Afghanistani government and US development projects.

As we are taking a break from drinking too much green tea and pondering whether to step outside for a walk, I asked Abbas, "Why do you think the translator lied to the CBP officers?

His response was short: "The same thing they did to the Hazara in Afghanistan. They are Hazaras, and if you hire a Dari translator who is Pashtun or Tajik background, they mistranslate, and even lie with the purpose of harm."

The Hazaras' persecution continues in the diaspora, partly at the hands of the same people with whom they shared a country, culture, and history. Hazaras have been persecuted in Afghanistan mainly at the hands of Pashtuns and often Tajiks, and that appears to continue in the diaspora as well. 

"Here is the solution," said Abbas, raising both hands, pressing his fingers together. "Recognizing and registering Hazaragi as an independent language in government offices in Western countries is a humane and urgent need. Doing so would not only solve the problem of administrative communication but would also help end the cycle of systematic discrimination against Hazaras and reduce the suffering of Hazara communities in the Western world. Therefore, Hazaras should work toward having Hazaragi formally registered as an independent language in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Canada, and every other country where Hazaras have settled."

Trump orders review of all Biden-era refugee cases

This report is extremely shocking and upsetting. Today, Reuters reported that, according to a memo seen by the news agency, the Trump administration has instructed the U.S. Immigration Department to review all cases of immigrants who were accepted and entered the United States during the Biden administration. This order could apply to 233,000 immigrants who entered the U.S. between January 2021 and February 2025.

This is horrible news, as the Trump administration has already reduced the refugee admission cap. For example, in 2026, the admission cap is 7,500 people, allocated only to white South Africans.

During two years of field research in Washington, D.C., I met with newly arrived Hazara refugees who told me that they had spent between 2 to 7 years for their cases to be reviewed or processed. Most of these reviews are multi-layered. For instance, refugees from Turkey were first vetted by the Turkish government and NGOs. In the second stage, their cases were referred to the UNHCR, and in the final stage, to the U.S. Embassy, which passed them on to be vetted by U.S. security agencies such as USCIS and Homeland Security. 

This means the refugees have already undergone multiple instances of scrutiny and review beyond what is expected. It's unclear what this anti-refugee program is trying to find or what loophole it is trying to uncover that hasn't been seen before.

Now it has become clear that the reason why some refugees and immigrants who have been waiting for nearly four years to receive their Green Card and still haven't gotten it is due to the anti-refugee scheme that the current administration plans to implement.

This will further add to the sorrow and pain of refugees who have already endured. I can't help thinking of the intense psychological and emotional toll it would cause to thousands of families who have barely settled and have started their lives, hoping to enjoy a modicum of peace. What a cruel world we are living in. 

What is a refugee? (poem)

I found this following refugee poem by chance. It is by an Afghanistani poet, Raziq Faani, and I thought I would regret it later if I did not translate it.
-----

One morning, from the children’s playground,
My little one returned with tearful eyes,
And with the lump in his throat, he asked:
"Tell me, dad!
What is a refugee?
Is it an insult or just a name?"

At his question, a sorrow filled my heart,
And a tear slipped uncontrollably down my cheek
Quietly, I wiped it away with the back of my hand,
As my mind searched for the right words.

I told him:
"Look, my dear child,
Do you know what homeland means?"
He nodded, "Yes,
You once told me,
That homeland is where our ancestors lived."
I kissed his face,
And with a heavy heart, I added:
"If in one dark night,
A band of thieves and marauders burn your dad's home,
And set fire to everything,
and you, in fear, run away,
Spending nights on the streets of strangers,
You will become a refugee, my child,
You will become a wanderer, my dear."

A fresh tear welled up in my child's eyes, 
And sorrow clouded his spirit,
Then he said, "I understand now,
A refugee is someone with no home!"
And I turned his simple words into a verse:
Murmuring under my breath:
"You spoke wisely, my dear,
“A refugee is one with no home,
A refugee is a pigeon without a nest."

Here is the original poem in Farsi:

‎شعر از رازق فانی :

‎مهاجر چیست؟

‎سحرگاهی، ز بازیگاه طفلان،

‎کودکم با چشم تر برگشت،

‎و با بغضی که بودش در گلو پرسید:

‎«بگو بابا!

‎مهاجر چیست؟

‎دشنام است، یا نام است؟»

‎

‎از آن پرسش، دلم لبریز یک فریاد خونین شد،

‎و مروارید اشکی،

‎از کنار چشم من، بی پرده پایین شد،

‎ولی آهسته چشمم را به پشت دست مالیدم،

‎و در ذهنم برای آنچنان پرسش جواب نغز پالیدم.

‎

‎بدو گفتم:

‎«ببین فرزند دلبندم،

‎تو میدانی که میهن چیست؟»

‎بگفت: «آری،

‎تو خود روزی به من گفتی،

‎که میهن خانه ی اجداد را گویند»

‎زدم بوسی به رخسارش،

‎و غمگینانه افزودم:

‎«اگر در یک شب تاریک،

‎مشتی دزد و رهزن، خانه ی بابات را سوزند،

‎و هر سو آتش افروزند،

‎و تو از وحشت دزدان، برون آیی،

‎و شبها را به روی سنگفرش مردم دیگر بیاسایی،

‎مهاجر میشوی فرزند،

‎مسافر میشوی دلبند»

‎

‎سرشک تازه ای چشمان فرزند مرا تر کرد،

‎و اندوهی روانش را مکدر کرد،

‎و آنگه گفت: «دانستم

‎مهاجر آدم بیخانه را گویند!»

‎و من مصراع شعر ساده اش را ساختم تک بیت:

‎و در زیر لب افزودم: نکو گفتی عزیز من،

‎«مهاجر آدم بیخانه را گویند

‎مهاجر قمری بیلانه را گویند»

Indonesia has become an inferno for refugees

Refugees sleeping on the sidewalk in Indonesia (Photo source: social media)

What is going on in Indonesia? It has become an inferno for thousands of refugees who have been stranded for years now. Indonesia has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and its supplemental 1967 Protocol which form the basis of rights of refugees and obligations of governments to protect them. The Indonesian government has done nothing but to create a situation that has become a protracted agony and suspense, a humanitarian predicament that has resulted in the loss of dozens of lives. 

In December 2016, in an attempt to a better humanitarian response to the refugee crisis, the Indonesian president Joko Widodo issued a decree called Presidential Regulation No. 125, which allows refugees and asylum seekers to stay in Indonesia, not to be forcibly returned to their country of origin. In the Article 1, no 1 it says:

Foreign refugee, hereinafter referred to as refugee, shall mean a foreigner who resides within the territory of the Republic of Indonesia due to a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, and different political opinions, and does not wish to avail him/herself of protection from their country of origin and/or has been granted the status of asylum-seeker or refugee by the United Nations through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

From the language, it is clear that Indonesia is able to protect refugees and wants them in its soil only for a terminable period, so to consider itself as a transit country. 

According to the UNHCR website, there are currently 13,273 refugees registered (there might be unregistered refugees and not counted) in Indonesia. Of that number 56% which is 7,432 are from Afghanistan, the rest are from Somalia and Myanmar. But the refugee resettlement has been slow and some of these refugees have been waiting to be resettled in third countries for nearly 10 years or more. 

The endless waiting coupled with terrible conditions of living contributed to psychological trauma. Pictures of refugees being shared on social media showing they are sleeping on sidewalks, under harsh weather conditions, on the side of the road and parking lots, some of them are placed in abandoned military buildings without running water or electricity and proper sanitation facilities. The resettlement refugees attrition in tandem with all these harsh conditions have driven refugees to feel they are condemned to slow death. As a result, 14 refugees have committed suicide and a dozen of others made failed attempts. Those who took their lives were all Afghan refugees who did not see any prospect of resettlement in third countries. Refugees have constantly protested against these inhuman conditions, they went on hunger strike, sewed lips, and set themselves on fire, but unfortunately none of these objections have changed policies implemented by the IOM, UNHCR, and the Indonesian government. 

According to UNHCR, in the year 2021, only 391 refugees were settled in third countries. This is extremely slow considering the overall number of refugees totaling 13,273 in Indonesia. If we consider the average resettlement 400 refugees per year, it would take nearly 32 years for all refugees to be resettled in third countries.

One of the options that UNHCR can take to end this predicament is to negotiate with countries that have already promised accepting Afghan refugees in the aftermath of US troops withdrawal that resulted in the collapse of the Afghan government. These refugees have the priority to be resettled because they escaped the brutality and persecution of the Taliban, and after all, they have been in limbo for over a decade in a country where they have little rights as a human being. Countries like Germany, Canada, the UK, and the United States have pledged to admit thousands of refugees. The majority of these refugees are young, single, educated, ambitious and ready to contribute to societies they would land in. 

Today, on January 09, 2022, people (mostly Afghanistani diasporas) have turned into Twitter using hashtag #HelpRefugees_Indonesia to amplify their voice against the pain and suffering that refugees have been enduring for years. If you can please go on Twitter and raise your voice in support of refugees who have been languishing in camps in Indonesia without access to basic rights such as work, education, and healthcare, and worst of all, living in limbo not for one or two years but over a decade. 

What an Ignoble World we Live in

Lets imagine ourselves living in a boundary where lines have divided us from each other based on our colors, ethnicity and language. Imagine that we are being told throughout our lives that it is our noble duty to protect our national values from others; others who are different from us in many ways, and there might not be even a single sign of commonality between us and others. What would happen hereafter?

It is encountering others that sometimes ignites our sense of ignobleness, and it projects fanaticism, which then let us discharge hatred towards others. The sense of otherness that infuses with ire and then invades our conscience; and eventually replace our morality and ethics with zealotry. That is when humanity disappears.

Zealotry is a threat to human civilization; Petra Laszlo is a small example of what could happen if we let our conscious be governed by zealotry that is often reinforced by political entities. It might recur in the future. We are definitely experiencing a moral problem, not only that it reflects badly on journalism ethics, its mirrors dispassion and lack of consciousness that could be embedded not in an individual, but in a greater number.

As a final note, we should not forget that what Petra did was an insult to herself first, then to her profession, and most importantly it reflects badly on Hungary, and its people. If Franz Liszt would be alive, he would certainly be ashamed of his countrywoman's detestable manner towards vulnerable refugees who are escaping war in their countries.