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UNHCR's repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan resumes 7 March

February 16, 2005

ISLAMABAD, 15 February (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency on 7 March will resume its voluntary repatriation programme for Afghans who wish to go home from Pakistan, estimating that it will help some 400,000 people return to Afghanistan in 2005.

The programme, which had been halted during the winter months when few people return to Afghanistan, has assisted the repatriation of 2.3 million Afghans from Pakistan since the start of 2002. Nearly 400,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan last year. The voluntary repatriation programme is carried out under a Tripartite Agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan that expires in March 2006. This is the last full year of repatriation under the existing agreement. "There has been considerable progress in the recovery of Afghanistan, both economic and political, over the past three years and millions of Afghans have decided to return home,"

UNHCR staff talking to Afghan children at I-11, area of Islamabad. © UNHCR/J. Redden

said Michael Zwack, acting head of UNHCR in Pakistan. "But the repatriation programme is completely voluntary and the decision on whether or not to return is up to individual Afghans."

The repatriation programme is entirely separate from the census of Afghans in Pakistan that begins on 23 February. The census, which is being carried out by the Government of Pakistan with assistance from UNHCR, will provide the first detailed information on the Afghan population in Pakistan.

The census information, which will detail the activities of Afghans as well as their numbers, will be used by the Government of Pakistan and UNHCR to develop policies for those Afghans who have not repatriated by the end of the Tripartite Agreement. It is not for use in the voluntary repatriation programme.

Afghans who request help for repatriation will be processed as in the previous three years of the programme. UNHCR offices in Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar, plus mobile teams, will register Afghans in various parts of the country who ask to repatriate.

After registration, and before leaving Pakistan through the Chaman or Torkham border points, returning Afghans will undergo an iris recognition test at UNHCR offices in Quetta or Peshawar. The machines detect anyone who has previously been through the procedure and received assistance, ensuring aid is going to those who intend to repatriate.

UNHCR provides a travel grant ranging from $3 to $30 per person for returning Afghans, varying with the distance to their destination. They also receive a cash grant of $12 each - increased from $8 last year - that helps their reintegration in Afghanistan. The assistance is paid at UNHCR offices inside Afghanistan once they have arrived.

The voluntary repatriation programme began in March 2002 from both Iran and Pakistan following the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan late the previous year. It has been the largest repatriation of refugees in UNHCR's history.

In addition to the 2.3 million who returned from Pakistan, more than 1.1 million Afghans have gone home from Iran, 781,000 of them with UNHCR assistance and the rest on their own. Repatriation from Iran, which is conducted under a separate Tripartite Agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Afghanistan and Iran, does not stop during winters.