UNHCR Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, 22 Feb (UNHCR) - The national government on Wednesday launches a 10-day census of all Afghans who have arrived in Pakistan over the past quarter century which will provide the first definitive figures on their number and profile.

The census, which is being supported by the UN Refugee Agency, will begin on 23 February and spread into all areas of the country over the following days. Some 2,000 government employees, in teams comprised of one man and one woman, will record all Afghans who arrived in Pakistan since 1 December 1979.

The census, the result of planning over the last year, was announced in January after a meeting in Islamabad between Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, Minister for the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers. SAFRON deals with Afghan refugees.

A pilot test in Gulbahar area of Peshawar. © UNHCR/J. Redden

The $750,000 census, financed by UNHCR, will provide the first firm figures on the number of Afghans in Pakistan. It will also detail when they arrived, their place of origin, where they are now living, their current livelihoods and their intention to repatriate.

Participation is mandatory for all Afghans who came since December 1979, when the Soviet invasion sent Afghanistan into a downward spiral of violence. Those who do not will be excluded from a proposed subsequent registration designed to provide some sort of individual document.

At present the government estimates that close to three million Afghans live in all parts of Pakistan, while UNHCR estimates that about a million live just in refugee camps.

The teams of enumerators will visit areas surveyed over the past two months in a "mapping exercise" that identified the residences of Afghans in all four provinces. A major test of the procedures was conducted on 14 February in areas around the country to make last-minute alterations to the methods.

The census will be conducted by the government's Population Census Organisation (PCO). UNHCR teams have been monitoring the process so far and will be in the field continually during the actual census-taking to ensure the agreed procedures are followed.

The data collected by the two-person census teams will be entered into a data base and the first results should be available for detailed analysis about the middle of March.

The information is essential for developing policies for those Afghans who will remain in Pakistan after the current Tripartite Agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan expires in March 2006. Under that agreement, UNHCR has assisted nearly 2.3 million Afghans to repatriate since 2002.

UNHCR will resume its voluntary repatriation programme, which is completely separate from the census process, on 7 March. It was suspended during the winter months when few Afghans go home.

UNHCR and the Government of Pakistan agree that voluntary repatriation of Afghans is the preferred goal. However, it is expected that a substantial number will still be in Pakistan at the end of the Tripartite Agreement.

The census conducted by the Government of Pakistan, assisted by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), will record vital information about every Afghan in Pakistan who arrived after 1 December, 1979. It will provide the first details on the number and current activities of the Afghans who arrived in Pakistan since their country dissolved into war a quarter century ago.

The final step in the preparations for the 10-day census, which have been underway for months, will come on 14 February when teams conduct pilot tests in each of the provinces. This will provide the staff with a final chance to adjust procedures before some 2,000 enumerators begin the full census across the country.

"We want to look at the operational procedures so far and see if there is a need for fine tuning before the census," said Indrika Ratwatte, who is in charge of UNHCR's assistance in the census. "We have to prepare the teams in each province to deal with their particular conditions - some will be in urban areas, some in camps."

The pilot tests will check the full range of housing areas that have been identified during two months of "mapping' concentrations of Afghan populations throughout Pakistan - camps, rural areas and urban centres.

In SIndh, the pilot test will be carried out in Karachi, in Punjab it will be in Sialkot and in Balochistan it will be in Pishin District near Quetta. In North West Frontier Province, the test of census procedures will be in the camps of Shamshatoo and Mera Khachori; the rural areas of Khazana, Naguman and Chargano Kaley ; and Peshawar for a check in urban areas.

Plans for the $750,000 census, which will be financed by UNHCR, were announced last month during a visit by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers. It will record the number of Afghans in Pakistan as well as details on when they arrived, their place of origin, where they are now living, their current livelihoods and their intention to repatriate.

"The objective (of the census) is not to push the Afghans out, "said Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCR representative in Pakistan. "The objective is to know who they are, where they are and how can they be managed."

UNHCR and the Government of Pakistan agree that voluntary repatriation of Afghans is the preferred goal under the present Tripartite Agreement due to expire in March 2006.

Under that agreement, UNHCR has assisted nearly 2.3 million Afghans to repatriate since 2002 and a further 400,000 are expected to return under the voluntary repatriation programme in 2005.

Participation in the census is mandatory for all Afghans who arrived in Pakistan since 1 December 1979. Those who do not will be excluded from a proposed subsequent registration designed to provide some sort of individual document.

Although UNHCR has been assisting Afghan refugees in Pakistan for a quarter century, there has never been a formal census or registration of all those who fled during the years of fighting in their homeland.

UNHCR teams have been monitoring all stages of the process so far and will be in the field continually during the actual census-taking to ensure the agreed procedures are followed. The census will be conducted by the government's Population Census Organisation (PCO).

The data collected by the two-person census teams - one man and one woman in each -- will be entered into a data base and the first results should be available for detailed analysis during the second half of March. This will provide vital information to guide the Government of Pakistan and UNHCR as they develop future policies on Afghans in Pakistan.


United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan

Census of Afghans in Pakistan begins on Wednesday