Quaid-e-Azam University Road, Diplomatic Enclave 2, G-4Islamabad, Pakistan P.O.Box # 1263
Tel: +92 51-2829502-6 ext. 2421/2428 Fax # +92-51-227-7683

Government and UNHCR closing two refugee camps in Balochistan

June 17, 2005

QUETTA, Pakistan, 17 June (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency announced it will end assistance in two troubled Afghan refugee camps in Balochistan Province, supporting a government decision to close them this summer and offer residents a choice of repatriation or relocation to another camp.

The closing of Jungle Pir Alizai by 31 July and Girdi Jungle by 31 August is the latest in a series of moves by the government and UNHCR to consolidate refugee camps following more than three years of repatriation to Afghanistan. They are focusing first on closing camps where the government has security problems and humanitarian agencies have difficulties in access and security. Elders from the two camps, where there are security problems and growing government concerns about criminal activity, were told of the decision to close the camps and end UNHCR assistance at meetings in Quetta on Wedneday. They subsequently relayed the information to residents.

Girdi Jungle camp in Balochistan, which will be closed on 31 August 2005.© UNHCR/J Redden

The Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees, Jahangir Khan, said they could either return to Afghanistan under UNHCR's continuing voluntary repatriation programme or be relocated to Mohammed Kheil, an existing refugee camp near Quetta. The 63,000 residents, as counted in this year's census, will not be permitted to remain in the current camps after the closure dates.

Those moved to Mohammed Kheil will continue to get the same UNHCR assistance as other residents of refugee camps in Pakistan, receiving basic medical care, primary education, water and sanitation services.

Those repatriating will receive the same help as the 125,000 Afghans who have already repatriated this year: a travel grant of $3 to $30 per person depending on the distance to the destination and a $12 per head grant to help in re-establishing in Afghanistan.

The announcement on the closing of the camps in Balochistan, which had been discussed by the government earlier this year, followed the decision this month to close all refugee camps in the insecure North Waziristan Agency in the tribal belt between North West Frontier Province and Afghanistan.

The North Waziristan camps will close on 30 June, with residents also offered a choice of repatriation or relocation to another existing camp. Repatriation from the camps, the choice of 83 percent of the population, began on Wednesday and will be completed by 30 June.

Extra UNHCR staffing to assist repatriation from the two camps in Balochistan will be provided starting in Jungle Pir Alizai from 15 July and at a later date in Girdi Jungle. Afghans from the camps who wish to repatriate before those dates can follow normal procedures, returning to Afghanistan after passing through the UNHCR repatriation centre in Quetta.

The closing of camps in Pakistan has continued in parallel with the repatriation operation that began in 2002 and has helped 2.4 million Afghans to reach home, the largest such UNHCR programme anywhere in the world. More than 580,000 have left from camps.

UNHCR estimates 400,000 Afghans will return from Pakistan, including camps, this year.

In 2003 UNHCR closed an unofficial camp on the border between Balochistan and Afghanistan where 20,000 people had been stranded since late 2001. Last year, with more Afghans drawn home by improving conditions, all the "new" camps in Pakistan established to shelter Afghans fleeing the 2001 war in Afghanistan were closed.

The government of Pakistan has stated its intention to follow the closure of camps in North Waziristan by closing all remaining camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the troubled belt along the border with Afghanistan where government troops have been battling militants for more than a year.