Refugee returns approach 10,000 this year

Around 9,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Pakistan and Iran since the United Nations-assisted voluntary repatriation programme resumed last month, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner Refugees (UNHCR) has said. The UN refugee agency estimates that in 2006 some 400,000 people may return to Afghanistan from Pakistan and around 200,000 from Iran. Last year the agency assisted more than 500,000 Afghans to return home, of whom 440,000 came from Pakistan and the remaining 60,000 from Iran. “We are providing a travel grant ranging from US $4 to $37 per person for each returning Afghan, depending on the distance to their destination. They also receive a cash grant of $12 each to meet their immediate needs upon return,” Nader Farhad, UNHCR’s spokesman in Kabul, said on Monday. Since the UN refugee agency began its voluntary repatriation programme to Afghanistan in 2002, more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees have returned - the vast majority from Pakistan and Iran, where the largest number of Afghans live. The current agreement between Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR that governs voluntary repatriation was scheduled to expire in March but has been extended to December 2006. More than 2.7 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan since 2002, while an estimated 2 million remain. At least 900,000 Afghans are still estimated to be in Iran. Many Afghans still living in neighbouring countries remain reluctant to return, citing lack of housing, jobs and security as the main reasons for staying put. UNHCR in Afghanistan is trying to address some of these issues. “We are planning to help build some 19,000 housing units for vulnerable Afghan returnees across the country during 2006,” Farhad explained. Since 2002, the UN agency has assisted in the construction of more than 150,000 housing units for returnees from both Pakistan and Iran mainly in rural areas of Afghanistan, said Farhad.