IRIN
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: UNHCR Voluntary repatriation programme resumes
8 March 2005


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

ISLAMABAD, 8 March (IRIN) - The return home of 122 Afghan refugees on 
Monday from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) marked the 
resumption of the Afghan voluntary repatriation programme of the office 
of the United Nations High Commissioner or Refugees (UNHCR) for 2005.

"The voluntary repatriation of Afghans has been resumed after a 
temporary suspension in the programme from December last year due to 
falling numbers of refugees seeking assistance to repatriate and also 
because of the harsh winter weather," Jack Redden, a UNHCR spokesman 
told IRIN on Tuesday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

The UN refugee agency has been running the voluntary repatriation 
assistance programme for Afghans since 2002, under the tripartite 
agreement, which runs till March 2006, between the governments of 
Afghanistan and Pakistan and UNHCR.

About 27 Afghan families left the provincial capital of NWFP, Peshawar, 
for the Afghan border province of Nangarhar. In three years, UNHCR has 
assisted some 2.3 million Afghans to repatriate from Pakistan and about 
779,000 from Iran, the largest voluntary repatriation programme in the 
53-year history of the UN refugee agency.

Meanwhile, UNHCR's voluntary repatriation information centres in four 
cities across the country: Peshawar; Islamabad: Karachi and Quetta, have 
reopened to assist Afghans in their plans to return home.

The UN refugee agency is also assisting the government of Pakistan in 
carrying out the first ever census of Afghans living in Pakistan. The 
census concluded on 6 March in all parts of the country except 
Balochistan province, where the operation has been extended till 10 
March due to delays caused by bad weather.

UNHCR officials are hopeful that the repatriation operation will gather 
momentum towards the end of the month, as harsh winter conditions that 
have affected Afghanistan and Pakistan's northwestern areas ease.

Each returning Afghan on the scheme gets up to US $30 in travel grant. 
An additional $12 per person is paid to help with integration. All 
payments are made to returnees at UNHCR encashment centres inside 
Afghanistan.

Last year more than 384,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan to 
Afghanistan under the voluntary repatriation programme. UNHCR expects 
about 400,000 Afghans to voluntarily repatriate during 2005.


IRIN-Asia
Tel: +90 312 454 1177
Fax: +90 312 495 4166
Email: IrinAsia@IRINnews.org

[This Item is Delivered to the "Asia-English" Service of the UN's IRIN 
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views 
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or 
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web: 
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this 
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial 
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
2005


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central Asia                  www.cidi.org/humanitarian/hsr/centralasia