Afghans need to return to place of origin for land programme - UNHCR

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has advised Afghan refugees repatriating from Pakistan to return to the places they originally left in order to take advantage of a new land distribution programme. “We're advising Afghans to go back to their areas of origin, especially those who do not own homes or land for housing, because under Afghan law, government land would only be distributed to eligible returnees in the province of origin as stated on the national ID card,” Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad on Wednesday. Lack of land to build on or cultivate has long been among the major challenges hindering Afghan refugee repatriation from neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR. In last year’s census of Afghans living in Pakistan, about 57 percent of respondents cited lack of shelter and land as the major reason for staying in Pakistan. Another 20 percent cited lack of jobs in Afghanistan as the reason. “These are very real, reasonable issues,” said Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR’s deputy in Pakistan, “But not classic refugee reasons. Instead these are socio-economic challenges, which necessitate more development-related activities inside Afghanistan.” In an effort to address some of these issues, in 2005 the Afghan government began an ambitious programme of land distribution to over 300,000 returnees. In 2005, the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation distributed over 13,000 plots of land - mostly in the provinces of Farah, Logar, Faryab and Parwan. In provinces where government land is not available for distribution, eligible returnees would be provided with land in a neighbouring province that can absorb them. Kabul has said priority for land distribution would be given to returnees who are disabled or widowed and to families lacking a breadwinner. In order to be eligible for the land, along with an Afghan ID card, the returnee needs a UNHCR voluntary repatriation form confirming return from exile and that the individual does not own land already in Afghanistan. More than 2.7 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan since UNHCR started its voluntary repatriation operation in 2002. Nearly 7,500 Afghans have returned with UNHCR assistance so far in 2006 – the last year of assisted returns under the current tripartite agreement between Kabul, Islamabad and the UN refugee agency.