U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
6 April 2002


AFGHANISTAN: Focus on major repatriation accord

ISLAMABAD, 6 April (IRIN) - The office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday welcomed a major refugee
repatriation agreement signed between Iran, Afghanistan and the refugee
agency this week. The accord sets the groundwork for hundreds of thousands
of Afghans in Iran to go home this year.

"We hope to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of up to 400,000
Afghans," Mohammad Nouri, UNHCR spokesman in the Iranian capital, Tehran,
told IRIN. External factors in Iran could affect the actual figures
returning, he added.

Nouri's comments follow the signing of the Tripartite Agreement on
Wednesday in the Swiss city of Geneva between the Afghan interim
authority's Repatriation Minister, Enayatollah Nazeri, the Director of the
Islamic Republic of Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigration
Affairs (BAFIA), Ahmad Husseini, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Ruud Lubbers.

Lubbers said it was a detailed and significant document, setting the
necessary parameters for an orderly return of Afghans. "For example, it
allows them to take home all their belongings and savings, maximising the
prospects for a sustainable return. Most important of all, it stresses
that the return should be voluntary," he said.

Indeed, it is the voluntary nature of the campaign that is being
emphasised most. Describing the occasion as "a very important and precious
day in Afghanistan's history", Nazeri thanked Iran for more than two
decades of hospitality to the refugees, but stressed that they should only
return of their own free will.

Glolamreza Mashhadi, BAFIA head of international relations, expressed
satisfaction with the agreement, telling IRIN from Tehran: "We have no
intention of forcing Afghans to return against their will."

The Geneva agreement, which comprises 29 articles, covers a wide range of
legal and operational matters affecting returning refugees, both while
they are still in Iran and once they have returned to Afghanistan. It
formalises UNHCR's role in monitoring the voluntary nature of the return,
and guarantees the agency's free access to refugees and returnees on both
sides of the border.

"To return Afghans with safety and dignity, both governments will respect
UNHCR's role in facilitating and implementing the operation on both sides
of the border," Nouri said.

Furthermore, the agreement endorses the importance of refugees being fully
briefed on conditions in their home areas before they leave Iran, laying
down the Afghan authorities' responsibility to ensure that, once home,
they are not discriminated against, harassed or persecuted.

"We have a massive information programme up and running," the UNHCR
spokesman in Geneva, Rupert Colville, told IRIN. "We want people informed
of the circumstances in their places of origin."

Under the agreement, the Afghan interim authority also pledges to
facilitate the recovery of lost land and property, and to recognise the
legal status of the refugees, including births, deaths, marriages and
divorces, as well as educational and professional qualifications gained in
Iran.  Another important provision allows non-citizen spouses and children
of Afghan refugees to legally enter the country.

Under the return operation, scheduled to begin on 9 April, participating
Afghans in Iran will register for repatriation at one of nine voluntary
registration centres located in the cities of Tehran, Mashhad, Zahedan,
Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Qom, Kerman and Arak.

Transport for the returnee families and their possessions will be provided
by UNHCR to the main border crossing points at Dogharun and Milak. UNHCR
would facilitate repatriation from towns other than these nine sites -
provided repatriation was organised in groups, Nouri added.

Inside Afghanistan, at UNHCR's two encashment centres in the western
cities of Zaranj and Herat, each returnee will receive a US $10 cash
grant, as well as 150 kg of wheat flour per family from the World Food
Programme. Close to their final destination, UNHCR and other agencies are
to provide returning families with a reintegration package, depending on
their situation. Packages would comprise food and non-food items such as
tools, Nouri said.

What remains unknown at this point is the number of people who may return.
The planning figure agreed by the three parties is for 400,000 Afghan
returnees from Iran this year, but Mashhadi expects the number to be up to
700,000.

Nouri confirmed that preparations were being made to cater for 400,000 but
said that if the figure rose above this figure, additional support would
be needed from the international community. In this respect, he drew
attention to what was happening in neigbouring Pakistan.

Colville said that 170,000 Afghans had already gone home from Pakistan
since the repatriation programme began there on 1 March. While describing
its success as "phenomenal", he warned that UNHCR had almost run out of
funding for its Afghanistan operations, and called upon donors to keep
pace with the rate of return.

Current figures show 50,000 Afghans a week registering for the programme
at the Takhtabaig voluntary repatriation centre, 16 km west of the
northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar. Once the joint repatriation
programme with Iran started, the numbers returning were likely to escalate
even further, he warned.

Another challenge to the programme is that many Afghans have, in the past,
taken advantage of the assistance package being offered to return, only to
find poor conditions and a dearth of employment opportunities at home.
This, in itself, sends a clear message to the humanitarian community on
the importance of sustainable development and job creation programmes in
Afghanistan, according to aid officials.

"It is essential for the international community to maintain its focus and
continue short- and longer-term development aid," according to Colville.
"It's wonderful to see Afghans so optimistic and eager to go home after so
many years of desperation," he said, but added that sustainability was
vital to keep this window of opportunity open.

UNHCR estimates there are more than 1.5 million Afghan refugees in Iran
and two million in Pakistan - the two countries hosting the largest
numbers of Afghan refugees.

Since repatriation first began in 1988, more than 4.5 million Afghans have
gone home, some three million with the assistance from UNHCR. Wednesday's
agreement was the first such agreement since 1992, when there was a brief
period of optimism following the fall of the communist regime in
Afghanistan after a decade of Soviet occupation and civil war.


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