Students

Germany lowered legal hurdles and deported asylum seekers to Afghanistan despite human rights concerns and Taliban rule. In 2026, deportations were conducted with direct engagement with the Taliban and expanded to non-offenders, while the first deportation flight in 2024, since the Taliban gained control in 2021, with male Afghan offenders, was conducted through Qatar. Officials justified these measures as a response to restore national security and align with the public will, while human rights organisations criticised the deportations as violating international law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement. My research examines how legal frameworks, moral considerations, and social attitudes intersect in the justification and perception of these deportations, using a mixed-methods approach. It investigates these deportations to Afghanistan from a behavioural science perspective, testing whether social normalisation of fear and prejudice towards a particular group of people enhances the bending of legal and moral norms. Furthermore, the study assesses public and moral attitudes as inputs into migration governance and how these shape state actors interpretations of legal and social norms under perceived security threats.