Tripartite meeting looks at new ways to facilitate Afghan repatriation

Iran and Afghanistan have reaffirmed their commitment to the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Iran and discussed new ways to boost the number of Afghans choosing to return home. At a meeting in Kabul on 28 April, the two countries and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreed that increased transport services would facilitate the return of more Afghans, as well as a waiver by the Iranian government's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) of fees paid by departing refugees who cannot afford them. The meeting also highlighted the need for the Afghan government to allocate land to returnees from Iran. The three delegations pledged their support for the inclusion of Afghan refugees in Iran in Afghanistan's forthcoming national elections, scheduled for September. In a bid to resolve the outstanding problems many Afghans face in Iran, dispute settlement committees have also been launched in Iran. The first one opened in the eastern city of Mashad last week, with a panel of judges and representatives from UNHCR acting as mediators. "There are many Afghans who want to go back but can't," Marie-Helene Verney, the UNHCR public information officer in Tehran, told IRIN. "For instance their employer hasn't paid them or their landlord doesn't want to give them back their deposits. So, for these legal problems and because they have money tied [up] here in Iran, it's taking them much longer to go back," she said. Visits from Afghan officials and tribal leaders to Afghan communities in Iran are part of a new drive aimed at informing Afghan refugees about their prospects in Afghanistan. "Some of the Afghans hardly know that the war is over, so it's important for them to know that life over there is improving, that there are new projects, new farms and new schools," Verney said. The first tribal leader arrived in January from the central Afghan province of Bamyan as part of a community group that included a woman, who answered questions on what women in Afghanistan are wearing, and if girls have the right to go to school. More tribal leaders are expected to visit from the western Afghan city of Herat and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. The current Joint Programme covers Afghans registered in Iran between 2001 or 2003 and tackles ways to facilitate Afghan repatriation. The agreement was first signed in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban and its objectives are reconfirmed annually. Almost 700,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since the start of the repatriation operation in April 2002, including over 40,000 Afghans from the beginning of 2004.