Afghan repatriation assistance programme set to resume

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan has announced it will resume its Afghan voluntary repatriation assistance programme on 1 March, after a winter break of three months. The programme is into its last operational year under an existing tripartite agreement between Islamabad, Kabul and the UN refugee agency set to expire by December 2006. "The significance of this year is that it’s the last year of the voluntary repatriation assistance programme," Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday. "As of now, we are not aware of any arrangements beyond 2006. However, all arrangements for returnees entitled to UNHCR assistance are the same as previous years." All repatriation information centres and mobile teams of UNHCR would be operational to assist those wishing to return from Pakistan to Afghanistan, she added. In 2002 the UN refugee agency launched its voluntary repatriation assistance programme from Pakistan and Iran - the two primary host countries of as many as over 4 million Afghans - with over 3 million in Pakistan alone, following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001. Since the programme's launch, over 2.7 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan, with nearly 1.6 million repatriated in 2002, followed by some 340,000 returns in 2003 and more than 380,000 in 2004. In 2005, about 440,000 Afghan refugees returned to their homeland. Although there are no records of spontaneous repatriation, a significant number do cross into Afghanistan without assistance from UNHCR and the agency expects about 400,000 Afghans to voluntarily repatriate during 2006. Under the programme, returnees receive transport assistance ranging from US $4 to $37 per person, depending on the distance to their destination, as well as a small monetary grant to assist with additional costs. Of about 200 refugee facilities meant for Afghans fleeing the Soviet invasion of 1979 and, later, further internal strife, Pakistan now has some 74 camps housing over 1 million refugees, according to UNHCR. A further breakdown of UNHCR-administered Afghan refugee facilities in the country shows some 63 refugee camps located in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), 10 in the southwestern province of Balochistan, with an additional one located in the Mianwali district of the eastern Punjab province. The closure of at least three refugee camps – two in Balochistan and one in NWFP - is expected in the first half of 2006.