When the US and other Western troops pulled out of Afghanistan in August and evacuated thousands of Afghan civilians whose lives were under threat, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia stepped forward with offers of temporary refuge.

Each country agreed to accept some refugees and take care of them for an interim period until the US and other countries approve their journey onwards to permanent refuge in the West. Albania is currently sheltering about 700 Afghans, Kosovo has almost 1,000 and North Macedonia has provided refuge for some 200.

Some of them appear to have been relatively fortunate as they were housed in decent hotel resorts on Albania’s Adriatic coast or in similar hotels in North Macedonia, and well as receiving substantial offers of help from humanitarian activists and relative freedom of movement while waiting for their security credentials to be checked so they can continue their journey.

But others, mainly in Kosovo, were not so fortunate. They were placed in isolated camps to which media have not been given access, and scarcity of information about their situation has prompted some human rights organisations to raise concerns about their wellbeing and basic human rights.

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“Under normal circumstances, the status of temporary protection would guarantee people full freedom of movement in the territory of Kosovo, food, clothing, access to health and education and a range of other support services,” Sesar told the Kosovo 2.0 website on September 16.

“This does not seem to be the case here. Afghan nationals in Bechtel-Enka and Bondsteel are not allowed to go out and media and humanitarian organisations do not seem to have access to the camps,” she added.

Sesar said that if the refugees are to stay I the camps until their special immigrant or asylum permits are approved by the US and other Western states, the Kosovo authorities must “take full responsibility for the management of the camps”.

“If the current approach does not change, these people will be subject to indefinite detention and de facto detention, which would be contrary to Kosovo law and international law,” she warned.

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While the US authorities have said that everyone who is being give temporary refuge is eligible to apply to go to the US, it remains unclear what might happen to Afghans who are rejected during the vetting process, and whether they will end up stuck in their transit countries or even be sent back to Afghanistan.

All three Balkan states that have taken in refugees have said that their stays can only be temporary, as North Macedonia’s government spokesperson Arsovski repeated.