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UNHCR suspends refugee returns during Afghan election

September 20, 2004

ISLAMABAD, 20 Sept (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency will temporarily suspend assistance for voluntary repatriation movements to Afghanistan during the first 10 days of October to prevent any disruption of efforts to register voters for Afghanistan's presidential election on 9 October.

However, UNHCR will continue during that period to register those Afghans in Pakistan who seek to repatriate and will assist their departure with the resumption of the whole programme on 11 October.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has set October 1-3 for the registration of Afghans who wish to participate in the election. The actual voting will take place on 9 October. It was feared that conducting repatriation at the same time could produce confusion and potentially prevent some Afghans from participating in the election.

UNHCR offers a package of assistance to those Afghans in Pakistan who wish to repatriate, including a travel grant ranging from $3 to $30 depending on the distance and $8 per person to assist in re-integration. Refugees normally register for repatriation - a process that will continue without interruption -- a day or more in advance of their departure.

Since the voluntary repatriation programme began in March 2002, more than 2.26 million Afghans have repatriated from Pakistan, including about 360,000 this year. About one million remain in refugee camps in Pakistan and an unknown, but substantial, number of Afghans live in urban areas.