Afghan repatriation slows

Some 60,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Pakistan according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since the start the agency’s 2006 voluntary repatriation assistance programme on 1 March. The programme, which expires in December 2006, is now in its last operational year in Pakistan, a country currently hosting over two million Afghans. “Since March, some 60,243 Afghans have returned [from Pakistan] with UNHCR assistance, which brings the total number of Afghan returnees to 2.8 million since 2002 when UNHCR began its voluntary repatriation programme,” Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, said on Thursday. “Returns have been more gradual this year compared to previous years,” the UNHCR official said, remarking on this year’s return figures. About 100,000 Afghan returned in the first three months of 2005, assisted by the repatriation operation, whereas the figure for 2006 thus far stands at 60,000 – just over half. In April, the UN refugee agency and Islamabad agreed to carry out a national registration of Afghans remaining in the country later this year. During the drive, Afghan refugees will be issued ID cards allowing them to stay in Pakistan for another three years. Many believe the registration process will provide Afghan refugees with another window of opportunity to stay in the country. Studies suggest the majority do not wish to return due to an acute lack of shelter, land, livelihoods and income generation opportunities across the border. Meanwhile, despite significant returns in previous years, Islamabad has raised concerns over an increasingly significant reverse flow of Afghans back into the country – mainly those Afghans who went back home only to return to Pakistan, mainly for economic reasons.