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Afghan voluntary repatriation from Pakistan passes 400,000

September 26, 2005

ISLAMABAD, 26 September (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency said on Monday that it has assisted more than 400,000 Afghans to voluntarily repatriate to Afghanistan in 2005 under its ongoing voluntary repatriation programme from Pakistan.

UNHCR resumed the voluntary repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan on September 21 after a six day break due to the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

Around 1500 Afghans left for home on Wednesday- the first day after the resumption of the programme. Some 1,370 were assisted on Sunday bringing the total number of Afghans seeking UNHCR assistance to go under the voluntary repatriation programme to 400,586 during the year 2005.

"UNHCR had estimated a similar figure when we resumed voluntary repatriation in March this year" said Indrika Ratwatte, Assistant Representative of UNHCR in Pakistan.

"The numbers may reach around 425,000 till the end of the year. During the Ramadan and winters the pace of the voluntary repatriation slows down considerably", Ratwatte said.

More Afghans opted to voluntarily repatriate from Pakistan during the month of August and beginning of September with the expiry of the extended deadline of September 15 to close refugee camps in Kurram and Bajaur Agencies. The Government of Pakistan had announced last year their intention to close all refugee camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Pak-Afghan border due to security concerns.

Afghans from Islamabad's I-11 sector were also asked to vacate the place as they were occupying private land. Afghans in those areas were given the option to relocate to existing camps inside Pakistan or voluntarily repatriate to Afghanistan.

Majority of Afghans returning from Pakistan during 2005 went to five provinces of Afghanistan including Kabul 22 percent, 10 percent to Kunduz and Ghazni, Khost nine percent, and Nangarhar eight percent.

More than 2.6 million Afghans have returned home under the UNHCR assisted voluntary repatriation programme that began in 2002. The voluntary repatriation is governed by a three party Tripartite Agreement between the governments of Pakistan-Afghanistan and UNHCR. All parties agreed in principle to extend the agreement up till December 2006 pending the formal approval from the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In 2005 some 267,253 Afghans were voluntarily repatriated from NWFP, 67,549 from Balochistan, 44,501 from Punjab including Islamabad and 21,283 were assisted from Sindh under the UNHCR programme.

Under the programme, Afghans wishing to return from Pakistan receive travel grants ranging between $4 and $37 per person, depending on the distance to the destination in Afghanistan, plus a $12 per capita grant to help them re-establish in their homeland.

UNHCR recently increased the travel assistance to 10% to facilitate returnee Afghans facing problems in transport fare increased due to constant fuel hike in Pakistan. All returnees over the age of six years are given iris recognition tests to ensure they have not previously received repatriation assistance.

The Government of Pakistan census of Afghans in Pakistan, completed in March 2005, indicated that there were 3.047 million Afghans in Pakistan. With the 400,000 returns since March this year, Pakistan is still home to some 2.6 million Afghans.