Repatriations to Afghanistan this year top 300,000

The repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, assisted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), passed the 300,000 mark on Wednesday, when a further 1,963 Afghans left the validation centres on the Pakistani side of the border for their homeland. "We are very happy with this figure, 300,000 is a remarkable number," Babar Baloch, a spokesman for UNHCR, told IRIN from Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan in southwestern Pakistan. However, with winter fast approaching, it is predicted that the number of those wishing to return will soon decline, according to UNHCR. Last week, 8,838 refugees returned to Afghanistan, which is only a small decline from the first week of September when UNHCR assisted 8,962 people to return home to their country. The highest number of people to be repatriated in a single week was 18,000, which occurred at the end of June. "The people being repatriated are not limited to one camp. We have people also returning to their homeland from Quetta and Karachi," Baloch said. The UNHCR programme assisting in the repatriation process is to last until 2005. Under the programme, refugees wishing to return home are provided with a nominal travel grant, as well as food and non-food items to help them rebuild their lives in Afghanistan. Despite many refugees having real difficulties establishing themselves in Afghanistan due to poor security, few job opportunities and ailing donor commitment to reconstruction, UNHCR remained confident that repatriations would continue. "People are now wanting to return as they think the conditions are more conducive for them in Afghanistan to re-establish their lives," Baloch maintained. All Afghan refugees over the age of six returning to Afghanistan must participate in the iris verification process to determine whether they qualify for UNHCR assistance. Iris scanning was introduced in September 2002 to prevent people from making more than one return claim. UNHCR hoped it would save donor money as well as ensure assistance went to deserving refugees. Baloch said that on Tuesday on a visit to the camp in Chaman, on the border with Afghanistan, in southwest Pakistan, he heard many people saying that it was time for them to return. At the start of 2003, UNHCR estimated that there were 1.2 million Afghan refugees residing in camps in Pakistan, with an unknown amount also living in Pakistani cities. The refugee agency believes that of those who have returned to Afghanistan this year, one-third came from the camps. To date this year the total number of Afghan refugees who have returned home with UNHCR assistance from Pakistan is 300,375, in addition to the 1.5 million that were repatriated last year. This year, a total of 173,273 Afghans have returned from Iran, 105,673 with UNHCR assistance and 67,600 of their own volition.