UNHCR head announces closure of "new" refugee camps in Pakistan

Refugee camps set up by Pakistan to accommodate Afghans fleeing their homeland after the US-led war on terror began in Afghanistan in late 2001 will be closed by September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Monday. Ruud Lubbers told a news conference at the conclusion of a three-nation tour, where he met officials in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to focus on the refugee situation, that he had discussed the matter in detail with both the president and prime minister of Pakistan. About 200,000 residents remain in so-called "new" camps, located close to Pakistan's long and often porous border with Afghanistan. The new camps were set up to cope with the exodus of frightened Afghans fleeing their country after a US-led war campaign to dislodge the Taliban started in October 2001. "They cannot count any longer on staying here. It's not fair to the Pakistanis to do that," Lubbers told IRIN after he concluded his press conference in the capital, Islamabad. Returning refugees, nearly two million of whom have travelled home to Afghanistan from Pakistan since the UNHCR repatriation process began in March 2002, are usually given a travel grant - which can range from US $3 to $30 - along with an extra US $8 instead of food and other assistance extended in previous years, according to an UNHCR press release. "They get a fair amount of cash grants to go home and we add to that in certain situations and they make quick decisions. But the basic motivation is that there is no alternative to moving from here," Lubbers said, in response to an IRIN query that focused on how a still uncertain security situation in Afghanistan would affect refugees' decisions to return to their country. Earlier, Lubbers had explained the need to close the "new" camps, pointing to growing security concerns that spoke of Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces possibly finding sanctuary and conducting recruiting in the camps near the border. He added: "We think it's really not good to continue the situation there, it's not good for the people who are living there, it's not good for Pakistan, it's not good for Afghanistan." UNHCR is repatriating Afghans from Pakistan under a tripartite agreement with the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan that runs until 2006. In his meetings with Pakistani officials, Lubbers said he had expressed the hope that, after the expiry of the agreement, the remaining Afghans in Pakistan might be accommodated under other arrangements, such as work permits, the UNHCR press statement said. According to the Pakistani government's estimates, the Afghan population in Pakistan totals over three million. But Lubbers said in the absence of any accurate information, UNHCR believes the total figure might be lower, the press release added. Nearly 60,000 Afghans have returned to their homeland after the restart of the repatriation process in March this year, following a five-month suspension after a UNHCR staffer was brutally murdered in Afghanistan in November. Lubbers said UNHCR planned to help another half a million return in 2004. "The planning figure is 400,000. But, 400,000 is a modest estimate. We can do more," he stressed.