UNHCR official says Afghan refugees’ repatriation being facilitated

PESHAWAR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Volker Turk said on Thursday the donor agencies and states had pledged to assist the Afghan government in its National Development Programme for facilitating those returning voluntarily to Afghanistan.

 He visited the UNHCR Voluntary Repatriation Centre at Chamkani here along with UNHCR Director for Asia Bureau Daisy Dell, UNHCR Pakistan Representative Indrika Ratwatte and UNHCR Head of Peshawar Oscar Mundia. He met the refugee elders and representatives.

At a press briefing, Volker Turk said they recently met with representatives of the Afghan government and discussed the issues of repatriated Afghans. He said the Afghan government assured full support and commitment to resolve the issues of the Afghan refugees who have returned home.

He said the Afghan government was facing numerous challenges, including law and order situation. “However, despite these challenges it has agreed to accommodate people returning from other countries,” he added.

The UN official said that the travelling expenditure for the returning refugees had been decreased from $400 to $200 per individual as the amount has been diverted to development work in Afghanistan.

He said another reason for reducing the amount was the halt of the donor organizations’ financial support to UNHCR.Earlier, the Afghan refugees’ elders presented a list of complaints and issues they were facing in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

They complained that UNHCR had decreased the travel expenditure though the vehicles’ rent and other expenses had increased with time. They also complained that most Proof of Registration (PoR) cards of refugees in Pakistan had expired. They also accused the police of harassment of refugees.

An elder, who is also member of the Afghan refugees committee in Pakistan, said their PoR cards had expired but the government had not issued new cards so far due to which they cannot apply for driving licenses, bank account or avail other services.

The elder requested the UNHCR to take up the issue with Pakistan government. He called for resolving other issues as well.The elders complained of the non-availability of education, health, electricity and clean drinking water at the Afghan refugees’ camps in Pakistan.   

According to the UNHCR, the voluntary repatriation process started on April 3 after the winter break. By April 25, UNHCR facilitated 160 families comprising 665 individuals to repatriate to Afghanistan. Overall 2,579 families totalling 10,999 individuals were facilitated to return home from Pakistan.

Currently 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan. There are no precise figures of the unregistered refugees, though normally it is said they would be about one million.