UNHCR lauds agreement on screening programme

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has lauded an agreement reached with Iranian officials, allowing them to establish a refugee screening programme for undocumented Afghans who are put under arrest. "This is a significant breakthrough," UNHCR Chief of Mission, Philippe Lavanchy told IRIN on Friday from the Iranian capital, Tehran. Following an agreement reached during his meeting with the Director General of Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA), Ahmad Hosseini on Wednesday, UNHCR would have access to detention centres throughout Iran where Afghan nationals threatened with deportation are being held and be able to conduct interviews with them. According to an agency statement issued on Thursday, BAFIA assured them that Afghans found by the UN refugee agency to be holders of valid documents would be released unconditionally and that undocumented Afghans - considered by UNHCR to have a valid case for refugee status under the new screening programme - would be permitted to remain in Iran. While there are no exact figures on the number of Afghans affected by this agreement, of the 2.36 million Afghans registered in a nationwide BAFIA survey last year, an estimated 10 percent did not participate in the process and remain undocumented. UNHCR is currently making arrangements to start implementing the screening process in cooperation with BAFIA as soon as possible. Wednesday's agreement comes just days before the 11 August deadline - announced last month - for all unregistered and undocumented Afghans to register with Iranian authorities and obtain exit permits from Iran. "The 11 August deadline does not apply to documented Afghans and has no effect on the joint UNHCR-assisted Voluntary Repatriation Programme, which provides for the repatriation of 400,000 Afghans - both documented and undocumented - in the first year of the operation." Emphasising the protection aspect of the agency's mandate, Lavanchy noted UNHCR's mandate was two-fold. Firstly to protect bona fide refugees and secondly to assist them. "Under the agreement reached with BAFIA, we will now be in a position to identify genuine refugee cases who are at risk of being deported and, therefore, fulfill that key element of our mandate." Under the tripartite agreement governing the joint voluntary repatriation programme - signed by the UN refugee agency, Iran and the interim government of Afghanistan in the beginning of April in Geneva - all Afghans in Iran should have access to UNHCR-assisted repatriation services. By implication, that means both those who are registered and those who are not, Thursday's agency statement added. Meanwhile, according to the latest UNHCR figures, the number of Afghans returning home has picked up mid-July following a decline in June. As of Wednesday, 122,842 Afghans had voluntarily repatriated through the UNHCR-assisted programme, including 17,600 family groups. This figure represents 31 percent of the 400,000 - planning figure for this year. Since the programme began 9 April, Afghans registering for the programme receive food and nonfood related assistance, as well as a small monetary grant to facilitate their return. Of those who have returned, the vast majority - 117,125 - reached Afghanistan via the main border crossing at Dogharoun in Iran's eastern Khorasan province, while the balance - 5,717 - passed through the southern crossing point of Milak in southeastern Sistan Baluchistan province. In a parallel move, UNHCR noted that the total recorded number of 'spontaneous' or unassisted returns during the same period was 33,025 people.