Focus on major repatriation accord

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday welcomed a major refugee repatriation agreement signed between Iran, Afghanistan and the refugee agency this week. The accord sets the groundwork for hundreds of thousands of Afghans in Iran to go home this year. "We hope to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of up to 400,000 Afghans," Mohammad Nouri, UNHCR spokesman in the Iranian capital, Tehran, told IRIN. Internal factors inside Afghanistan could affect the actual figures returning, he added. Nouri's comments follow the signing of the Tripartite Agreement on Wednesday in the Swiss city of Geneva between the Afghan interim authority's Repatriation Minister, Enayatollah Nazeri, the Director of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigration Affairs (BAFIA), Ahmad Husseini, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers. Lubbers said it was a detailed and significant document, setting the necessary parameters for an orderly return of Afghans. "For example, it allows them to take home all their belongings and savings, maximising the prospects for a sustainable return. Most important of all, it stresses that the return should be voluntary," he said. Indeed, it is the voluntary nature of the campaign that is being emphasised most. Describing the occasion as "a very important and precious day in Afghanistan's history", Nazeri thanked Iran for more than two decades of hospitality to the refugees, but stressed that they should only return of their own free will. Glolamreza Mashhadi, BAFIA head of international relations, expressed satisfaction with the agreement, telling IRIN from Tehran: "We have no intention of forcing Afghans to return against their will." The Geneva agreement, which comprises 29 articles, covers a wide range of legal and operational matters affecting returning refugees, both while they are still in Iran and once they have returned to Afghanistan. It formalises UNHCR's role in monitoring the voluntary nature of the return, and guarantees the agency's free access to refugees and returnees on both sides of the border. "To return Afghans with safety and dignity, both governments will respect UNHCR's role in facilitating and implementing the operation on both sides of the border," Nouri said. Furthermore, the agreement endorses the importance of refugees being fully briefed on conditions in their home areas before they leave Iran, laying down the Afghan authorities' responsibility to ensure that, once home, they are not discriminated against, harassed or persecuted. "We have a massive information programme up and running," the UNHCR spokesman in Geneva, Rupert Colville, told IRIN. "We want people informed of the circumstances in their places of origin." Under the agreement, the Afghan interim authority also pledges to facilitate the recovery of lost land and property, and to recognise the legal status of the refugees, including births, deaths, marriages and divorces, as well as educational and professional qualifications gained in Iran. Another important provision allows non-citizen spouses and children of Afghan refugees to legally enter the country. Under the return operation, scheduled to begin on 9 April, participating Afghans in Iran will register for repatriation at one of nine voluntary registration centres located in the cities of Tehran, Mashhad, Zahedan, Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Qom, Kerman and Arak. Transport for the returnee families and their possessions will be provided by UNHCR to the main border crossing points at Dogharun and Milak. UNHCR would facilitate repatriation from towns other than these nine sites - provided repatriation was organised in groups, Nouri added. Inside Afghanistan, at UNHCR's two encashment centres in the western cities of Zaranj and Herat, each returnee will receive a US $10 cash grant, as well as 150 kg of wheat flour per family from the World Food Programme. Close to their final destination, UNHCR and other agencies are to provide returning families with a reintegration package, depending on their situation. Packages would comprise food and non-food items such as tools, Nouri said. What remains unknown at this point is the number of people who may return. The planning figure agreed by the three parties is for 400,000 Afghan returnees from Iran this year, but Mashhadi expects the number to be up to 700,000. Nouri confirmed that preparations were being made to cater for 400,000 but said that if the figure rose above this figure, additional support would be needed from the international community. In this respect, he drew attention to what was happening in neigbouring Pakistan. Colville said that 170,000 Afghans had already gone home from Pakistan since the repatriation programme began there on 1 March. While describing its success as "phenomenal", he warned that UNHCR had almost run out of funding for its Afghanistan operations, and called upon donors to keep pace with the rate of return. Current figures show 50,000 Afghans a week registering for the programme at the Takhtabaig voluntary repatriation centre, 16 km west of the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar. Once the joint repatriation programme with Iran started, the numbers returning were likely to escalate even further, he warned. Another challenge to the programme is that many Afghans have, in the past, taken advantage of the assistance package being offered to return, only to find poor conditions and a dearth of employment opportunities at home. This, in itself, sends a clear message to the humanitarian community on the importance of sustainable development and job creation programmes in Afghanistan, according to aid officials. "It is essential for the international community to maintain its focus and continue short- and longer-term development aid," according to Colville. "It's wonderful to see Afghans so optimistic and eager to go home after so many years of desperation," he said, but added that sustainability was vital to keep this window of opportunity open. UNHCR estimates there are more than 1.5 million Afghan refugees in Iran and two million in Pakistan - the two countries hosting the largest numbers of Afghan refugees. Since repatriation first began in 1988, more than 4.5 million Afghans have gone home, some three million with the assistance from UNHCR. Wednesday's agreement was the first such agreement since 1992, when there was a brief period of optimism following the fall of the communist regime in Afghanistan after a decade of Soviet occupation and civil war.