 |
1st
June 2005
UNHCR
helps 100,000 Afghans to repatriate this year
ISLAMABAD,
June 1 (UNHCR) – More than 100,000 Afghan refugees have returned
from Pakistan since UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme for
2005 started in March. The pace of returns is expected to increase,
with camp closures planned in Pakistan's Federally Administered
Tribal Areas.
Of the total of 101,224 returnees processed by the time the last
truck departed on Tuesday, almost half – 48,967 – had
been living in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. But the
Afghans came from all over Pakistan: 27,168 from Balochistan, 13,627
from Punjab and Islamabad, and 11,462 from Sindh.
The UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme began in 2002 and has
now helped nearly 2.4 million Afghans to return from Pakistan, the
largest repatriation operation in the world. The UN refugee agency
estimates up to 400,000 Afghans could go home from Pakistan during
this year.
The repatriation programme is governed by the Tripartite Agreement
between UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which
continues until next March. There has been no decision yet on the
policy that will follow the current agreement.
However, UNHCR and Pakistan have begun discussions on policies on
managing those Afghans who remain in Pakistan after the Tripartite
Agreement. A census early this year by the government, assisted
by UNHCR, established that just over three million Afghans –
refugees and other categories – live in Pakistan.
The current rate of repatriation is similar to returns in 2003,
when 104,092 went home by the end of May, but behind the pace in
2004 when 141,666 Afghans went home in the same period. A total
of 343,074 repatriated in 2003 and 383,598 in 2004.
However, the pace of repatriation is likely to pick up in the next
month because the government of Pakistan has announced that all
refugee camps in North Waziristan, in the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas, will be closed by the end of June. The government
also said it intends to soon after close all other camps in the
FATA region.
The residents of the camps, including about 30,000 in North Waziristan,
will be offered a choice of voluntary repatriation through UNHCR
or relocation to another existing site chosen by the government.
All Afghans in Pakistan who wish to repatriate are eligible to receive
a travel grant of $3 to $30 per person, varying with the distance
to the destination in Afghanistan, plus a $12 per person grant to
help in re-establishing themselves. Those repatriating go through
an iris recognition test that ensures they cannot receive assistance
a second time. They receive their grants after arriving in Afghanistan.
In all, more than 3 million Afghan refugees worldwide have returned
home under the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme that started
in early 2002.
By Jack Redden
UNHCR Pakistan
|
|
