New database to be key refugee tool

A newly established computer database, one of the first in the region and managed by the Tajik State Migration Service, will prove instrumental in assisting thousands of refugees in mountainous Tajikistan, the vast majority of whom are Afghans. "The database is not an end in itself, but rather one stage in an ongoing process of finding more durable solutions for the refugees and persons of concern living in this country," Nicholas Coussidis, country representative for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, adding that profiling of those beneficiaries was the next stage of that process. "We need to know who we are trying to help and such profiles allow us to properly protect, assist and provide solutions." Data regarding the individual's names, number of family members, gender, places of origin, professional and educational background, along with legal status, were now being entered, providing UNHCR, along with the Tajik authorities, a more effective means of providing assistance. "We are trying to put all that in the system, enabling us to find more meaningful solutions for the beneficiaries - whether it is repatriation, resettlement or local integration," Coussidis explained, noting: "Unless we have a good profile, we cannot make effective decisions." In a joint undertaking by the government and UNHCR and completed in mid March, approximately 2,600 refugees and persons of concern were re-registered and re-validated in the database. Previously, such files were handled completely by hand. One element of the re-registration effort was ensuring that women were registered in their own right - as individuals - and not merely under heads of families, the UNHCR country head said. "It's her right. Not just his." But while the physical process of registering all refugees already in the country in the database was complete, the process was far from over. "The database is a living thing," Coussidis stressed, noting the importance of keeping it up to date. "This is an ongoing activity," UNHCR protection officer Katja Storch concurred. "Whenever someone comes or goes, that information must be entered," she told IRIN. UNHCR assists the Tajik State Migration Service, which on behalf of the Tajik government is responsible for the continuous updating of the system. Describing the current climate towards refugees and asylum seekers as positive, Coussidis noted they were currently working in collaboration with the government on current refugee legislation in the former Soviet republic. "The increasing tolerance by the authorities towards refugees and asylum seekers is moving in a positive way," he observed. According to UNHCR, since the start of the voluntary repatriation effort in spring 2002 in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, the two largest host countries to Afghan refugees, thousands of Afghans living in Tajikistan had also returned. In April 2002 the UN refugee agency assisted over 9,000 Afghans living along the banks of Pyandz river on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan back to their homeland, with some 3,000 returning spontaneously or unassisted. Since then UNHCR has also facilitated the voluntary return of over 1,000 Afghans back to their country - mainly from Dushanbe and the northern city of Khujand - with another 1,000 returning spontaneously or being resettled elsewhere. "It may not sound like big numbers compared to Pakistan and Iran - but given we initially started with 4,500 - it's significant," Coussidis stated.