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Three Refugee Camps To Close In April, Says Government

February 23, 2006

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb 23 (UNHCR) - The government of Pakistan has announced that three refugee camps in North West Frontier Province and Balochistan will be closed at the end of April, offering the affected Afghans a choice of repatriation to Afghanistan or relocation within Pakistan.

The camps to be closed are Katchagari camp in Peshawar and Jungle Pir Alizai and Girdi Jungle camps in Balochistan. They host more than 51,000, 35,000 and 43,000 Afghans respectively. Reasons cited for the camp closures include security, land development and camp consolidation. The government has said that no one will be allowed to stay in the camps after they close.

"Afghans in the Balochistan camps can choose to repatriate with UNHCR assistance or to relocate to Mohammad Kheil camp near Quetta," said Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR's Assistant Representative in Pakistan. "We've prepared the ground for possible arrivals from the two camps to make sure they can avail themselves of education, health care, water and sanitation facilities after relocation."

UNHCR ended assistance in Jungle Pir Alizai and Girdi Jungle camps last summer after the government announced their closure. But the camps did not officially close in 2005.

The announcement of the closure of Katchagari camp was made in May 2005 by the government of Pakistan. Afghans in Katchagari camp have also been given the repatriation option. Those who don't want to return can relocate to one of 10 existing camps identified by the government in NWFP's Upper and Lower Dir, Hangu, Kohat, Banu and Chitral districts. The government has requested all Afghans wishing to relocate to give their names to staff of the Commissioner for Afghan Refugees present in Katchagari by March 1.

UNHCR has started a campaign to inform the affected Afghans and the agency's staff are in the camps to discuss these options and arrangements with refugee elders.

On Wednesday, the UN refugee agency announced that this year's voluntary repatriation season would start on March 1. "We expect about 400,000 Afghans to return home this year," said Ratwatte. "2006 is significant as it marks the last year of assisted returns under the current tripartite agreement. Future return arrangements are still under discussion with the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan."

The present tripartite agreement between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR will expire in December this year.

Currently, returning refugees aged six and above have to go through an iris-recognition test to ensure that they have not received repatriation assistance before. They receive a travel grant of between $4 and $37 each, depending on the distance to their destination inside Afghanistan, plus a grant of $12 each to help them start up their lives back home.

More than 2.7 million Afghans have returned home from Pakistan with UNHCR assistance since 2002. Some 450,000 returned last year, partly due to camp closures in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan and the closure of the I-11 Katcha-abadi in Islamabad. Another 1.4 million have returned from Iran since 2002.

A census conducted in February and March 2005 counted 3.04 million Afghans in Pakistan. With 450,000 repatriating last year, there are now 2.6 million Afghans remaining in the country.