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


AFGHANISTAN: Repatriation from Iran begins

ISLAMABAD, 10 April (IRIN) - A major effort to assist hundreds of
thousands of Afghan refugees in Iran to go home was launched on Tuesday.
Under the joint voluntary repatriation programme between the office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Iranian
government, up to 400,000 could return this year alone.

About 146 people had voluntarily returned on the first day - comprising 29
families and seven individuals, a UNHCR spokesman, Mohammad Nourish, told
IRIN from the Iranian capital, Tehran. "Everyone we spoke to was hopeful
to resume their lives inside Afghanistan," he said.

His remarks followed reports that thousands of Afghans throughout Iran
were registering to return - despite insecurity and dismal economic
opportunities back home. Indeed, a BBC report on Wednesday said the mass
response had taken officials by surprise, and many Afghans now faced a
long wait in the registration queue before beginning their long journey
home.

Under the terms of the programme, Afghan refugees in Iran may register at
one of nine voluntary repatriation centres established throughout the
country before being transported to the border aboard government-hired
buses. On arrival, returnees are briefed on the danger of landmines, and
security conditions inside Afghanistan. Once at the frontier, they board
buses organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM),
which carry them to the provincial capital of their choice.

According to IOM, returns are scheduled to take place six days per week at
a rate of 1,600 people a day. Nail Mohammad, the IOM operations manager at
the main Afghan border crossing of Slam Ale's described the exodus as "a
race against the clock". "We're very busy at the zero border point,
erecting tents and getting everything ready for the returnees," he said,
adding that doctors, nurses, a midwife and two ambulances were now on
stand-by for people in need of special assistance.

Of the total planning figure for 2002, IOM expects that about 300,000
returnees will pass through Slam Ale's. Of these, 52 percent would be
returning to the western city of Herat, 18 percent to the capital, Kabul,
and the remainder to the central provinces of Ghazi, Lodger and Verdi, and
the northern province of Condos, it said.

Repatriation through Milk, the other traditional crossing point along the
900-km border has been temporarily postponed due to security concerns
inside Afghanistan. "Those people wishing to participate in the programme
are being encouraged to make their way via Foghorn," Nourish said.

In terms of actual assistance, families returning from Iran receive the
same UNHCR assistance package of food and non-food items as those
returning from neighbouring Pakistan under a similar programme, which
began on 1 March. They also receive US $10 per person for transport to
their home areas - half the amount provided to returnees from Pakistan, as
transport up to the provincial capitals is provided by IOM.

Commenting on the programme, Quiz Ehsanolhaq Ehsan, deputy for
repatriation affairs at the Afghan Embassy in Iran, told IRIN he was
hopeful for its success. "I can assure you that the Interim Authority and
the Afghan people are positive about this development. As this programme
is a voluntary one, I don't foresee any problems," he said.

Indeed, this is the very aspect UNHCR wants to emphasise most. "This
repatriation is voluntary.  No one is going to force anyone out who
doesn't want to go back. UNHCR's role is only to facilitate those who wish
to return," Nouri explained, adding that the refugee agency was
interviewing all participants to verify the voluntary nature of their
return.

His comments come just days after Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told IRIN
that about 6,800 Afghans had been forcibly repatriated through the Milak
border crossing in the last three weeks. These refugees had included
several families who had lived in Iran for years - legal document holders
and unaccompanied minors. Among the single men, several had spontaneously
reported physical mistreatment in the detention centres they had passed
through, MSF said.

Meanwhile, in parallel with the repatriation programme, UNHCR confirmed
that 154 Afghans had spontaneously (unassisted) gone home on Tuesday.
"This is an ongoing movement, and already some 48,000 have spontaneously
returned this year alone," Nouri said. He added that under the tripartite
agreement on repatriation between Kabul, Tehran and UNHCR signed last week
in the Swiss city of Geneva, these numbers would not be included in the
planning figures for repatriation.

While figures vary, the Tehran government estimates that 2.3 million
Afghan refugees are living in Iran today, thereby easily identifying it
was one of the countries hosting the largest number of Afghan refugees in
the world today. Pakistan, the other main host country, is currently home
to two million Afghans.


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