12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Allocation of public land to landless returning Afghan refugees and IDPs; support for all landless refugees, especially the disabled, widowed and those families without a male head of household ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22830]

"A Presidential Decree governing the allocation of public land to landless returning Afghan refugees and IDPs was issued in late 2005. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, the decree legalizes the distribution of intact and uncultivated Government land to address the needs of returnees for land and the construction of shelter. For the first full year of implementation of the scheme, some 53,000 returnee families were selected and 3,000 (some 15,000 individuals) physically moved to their newly acquired plot of land and started building permanent shelters. In support of the scheme, the Afghan Government has allocated US $ 2.5 million under its Afghan year 1385 (21 March 2006 – 20 March 2007) National Development Budget and US $ 4 million in year 1386 (21 March 2007 – 20 March 2008). In late 2006, the US Government contributed US $ 4.5 million in support, through direct implementation by NGOs, to the construction of shelter, access roads and digging of water points in five pilot locations. In 2007, the further expansion of the Land Allocation Scheme will require a concerted effort by all actors (concerned ministries, donors, NGOs, UNHCR and sister UN agencies) to ensure that minimum essential needs are met and that the required institutional arrangements are in place for the Scheme to be adequately managed and coordinated.

The criteria for beneficiary selection, stipulated in the Decree, are quite wide and subject to interpretation, and thus require clarification, in particular with regard to Afghan returnees and IDPs who are Kuchis, and with regard to Afghan IDPs, displaced outside their province of origin, who are unable to return. However, the criteria stipulate that the Scheme is open for landless refugees and IDP returnees who do not own land or a house under their name, that of their spouses or minor children in Afghanistan. While the Government considers all eligible returnees for land distribution, it gives priority to the disabled, widowed and those families without a male head of household."

Document(s): Open document

20.03.2007 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

According to UNHCR, Afghan refugees living in Iran and Pakistan will receive a 6-fold increase in cash grants (now 100$) upon their voluntary return to Afghanistan ("UNHCR increases cash grant for repatriation") [ID 19347]

Document(s): Open document

17.01.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

On security and humanitarian situation; deportees, unlike people who return voluntarily, are generally not entitled to receive support from IOM's RANA programme (position paper) ("Keine extreme Gefahrenlage in Afghanistan?") [ID 19071]

Document(s): Open document

17.01.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

Development of security and humanitarian situation in 2006; support through IOM's RANA programme (Return, Reception and Reintegration of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan) is generally not available for deportees (expert opinion, in German) ("Stellungnahme vom 17.1.2007 an VGH Hessen - 8 UE 1913/06.A -") [ID 19072]

Document(s): Open document

02.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Returnees and officials state that assistance to returnees is too slow and often not sufficient ("The Long Journey Home. The challenge of refugee return and reintegration") [#29103],  [ID 2619]

"Many of those refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have returned home in the last two years complain of a lack of assistance. Unemployment and the lack of public services, including health clinics, schools and roads, are the chief concerns.
“The major and only change in Afghanistan is the newly elected government and everyone hopes that it will bring a change in our lives,” Ali said.
For the millions of Afghans who have returned home since the end of the Taliban era in late 2001, life is hard and reintegration is slow. Although undeniable progress has been made in many sectors, returnees are
often more destitute than the local population.
[...]
UNHCR and its partners have rebuilt some 170,000 houses across Afghanistan since 2002 and some 8,000 wells or water points have been established in areas of high return.
Despite this, he was critical of the pace of rural infrastructure development. "While returnees are eager to restart their lives they need water projects, dams and therefore it [development] has to go a bit faster," the high commissioner noted.
Habibullah Qaderi, the former chief adviser for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, believes that not much has been done for returnees by donor countries. "We appeal for more assistance and more money for the return programme because we should think of the sustainability of return and reintegration which is the right of every returnee," he told IRIN.
(p. 18)"

Document(s): Open document
Open document

11.01.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Lack of infrastructure and livelihood opportunities in southern Afghanistan impedes returns from Pakistan ("Lack of infrastructure and jobs impedes return of Afghans") [#28180],  [ID 2620]

"Lack of infrastructure and livelihood opportunities in the southern belt of Afghanistan, the region of origin of a large majority of Afghans living in Pakistan, has been impeding returns, according to an annual survey of voluntary repatriation by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan. [...]
In the largest single repatriation operation in the 53-year history of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR has assisted nearly 2.3 million Afghan refugees to repatriate from Pakistan. It expects some 400,000 Afghans to return home during the current year.
UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme started in 2002, but was suspended several times in 2004: during February when the number of returnees was minimal due to harsh winter weather; in June, when security concerns disrupted field operations in Balochistan province; and then in October when repatriation was suspended for 10 days, to avoid complicating the registration of voters and for out of country voting by Afghans inside Pakistan. [...]
In addition, the UNHCR has assisted some 800,000 Afghans to return to their homeland from Iran in the same period, while more than 320,000 Afghan refugees have repatriated from Iran on their own.
"At the moment, there are three pressing questions for Afghans to decide their repatriation: shelter, property issues and the non-availability of adequate earning opportunities," Muhammad Akbar Omarzadah, chief representative of the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

26.11.2004 - Source: UN General Assembly

Report focused on political developments, security situation (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, police and justice reform) human rights situation, health and nutrition, voluntary repatriation and reintegration ("Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security - Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan A/59/581 S/2004/925") [#27496],  [ID 2621]

"63. The reintegration assistance programme continued to focus on the construction of rural houses — a high-priority request from returnees — for the most vulnerable groups. An average of 15 to 20 per cent of returnees have benefited from this activity. Between 2002 and the end of 2004, UNHCR will have built some 120,000 houses, mostly in areas receiving large numbers of returnees. Lack of employment and slow progress in reconstruction in rural areas pose a continuing challenge to the sustainable reintegration of returnees. The increased number of returns to urban areas is placing an additional burden on the already stretched infrastructure capacity of major cities and highlights the need for the development of a social housing scheme."

Document(s): Open document

05.05.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Afghan refugees in Iran receive a new form of repatriation assistance, namely through a provision of legal aid to settle disputes before they end years of exile ("Afghan refugees to resolve disputes before leaving Iran") [#22033],  [ID 2622]

"On Monday, the UN refugee agency and Iran's Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) opened the first Dispute Settlement Committee for Afghan refugees in the Iranian capital, Tehran. By the end of this month, six more committees will be set up in other parts of the country - in Mashad, Zahedan, Kerman, Isfahan, Qom and Shiraz.
[...]
These legal disputes include problems with rental agreements with landlords, or back payment of salaries with employers in Iran, and can considerably delay the return of Afghans to their country.

Each committee comprises a judge, a BAFIA delegate, an Afghan community representative and a UNHCR legal person, who will meet once a week to review the cases brought to their attention. A BAFIA representative on Monday said that more than 300 people have already registered in Tehran in the few days before the official opening.

"A lot of them have disputes with their landlords," he said. "They cannot get back their deposit or the rent they paid in advance. We have already called some of the landlords, and the response has been very positive. They all said they wanted to cooperate."

Often, Afghan refugees are worried about approaching the Iranian court system, which they are not familiar with. The Dispute Settlement Committees will offer their services free of charge, and will deal only with civil cases, not criminal ones. They will focus on reaching amicable solutions through mediation, solving disputes in a manner that is sensitive to the values of Afghan culture. The programme will be especially helpful for vulnerable Afghans, such as women and the elderly, who often have very little money and no access to the court system. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

17.03.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

A repatriation process run by UNHCR to enable Afghan refugees in Pakistan to return to their homeland, has been expanded to include the south-western city of Quetta ("UNHCR repatriation programme extended to Quetta") [#20463],  [ID 2623]

"A repatration process run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR) to enable Afghan refugees in Pakistan to return to their homeland, has been expanded to include the south-western city of Quetta, according to an agency official.

“UNHCR resumed its repatriation operations in Quetta on Tuesday. About 31 families, comprising 174 individuals, were sent to Afghanistan on Tuesday after they underwent validation tests at the Iris Verification Centre (IVC) in Quetta,” Asif Shahzad, a UNHCR public information official, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The UNHCR repatriation process, under which about 1.9 million refugees have been repatriated from Pakistan since it started in 2002, was suspended in November last year, following the murder of a UNHCR worker in Afghanistan.

The process re-started on 2 March across Pakistan, after UNHCR officials said they had received assurances from the governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan about stricter security arrangements.[...]"

Document(s): Open document

01.03.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 52 March 1, 2004 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 52 March 1, 2004") [#47544],  [ID 2624]

Document(s): Open document

15.02.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 51 February 15, 2004 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 51 February 15, 2004") [#47545],  [ID 2625]

Document(s): Open document

01.02.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 50 February 1, 2004 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 50 February 1, 2004") [#47546],  [ID 2626]

Document(s): Open document

15.01.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 49 January 15, 2004 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 49 January 15, 2004") [#47547],  [ID 2627]

Document(s): Open document

01.01.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 48 January 1, 2004 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 48 January 1, 2004") [#47548],  [ID 2628]

Document(s): Open document

15.12.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 47 December 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 47 December 15, 2003") [#47551],  [ID 2629]

Document(s): Open document

01.12.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 46 December 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 46 December 1, 2003") [#47553],  [ID 2630]

Document(s): Open document

18.11.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 45 November 18, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 45 November 18, 2003") [#47556],  [ID 2631]

Document(s): Open document

01.11.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 44 November 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 44 November 1, 2003") [#47557],  [ID 2632]

Document(s): Open document

11.2003 - Source: ReliefWeb

UNHCR gives particular support to Shomali Valley where 214,000 have returned to ("BAAG Afghanistan Monthly Review; November 2003"), Autor: British Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG) [#18299],  [ID 2633]

"[...] Speaking on 9th November, a representative from UNHCR stated that over 462,000 refugees had returned from Pakistan and Iran, with UNHCR assistance, since the beginning of 2003. About 30% have returned to Kabul Province. UNHCR has begun to provide shelter assistance to 1,000 families who have returned to heir home plots in the Kabul area but who are unable to rebuild their homes. A further 800 families are being supported through the rehabilitation of public buildings where homeless people are squatting. Efforts are being made to identify additional public buildings that are unoccupied in order to provide for 1,100 families living in tents on public land. UNHCR noted that it had given assistance in support of the construction of 92,000 housing units in rural areas since the beginning of 2002. Particular support has been given in the Shomali Valley, to which 214,000 people have returned over the same period, to rebuild both their homes and the agricultural economy in the wake of the destruction caused by the scorched earth policies of the Taliban. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

15.10.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 43 October 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 43 October 15, 2003") [#47558],  [ID 2634]

Document(s): Open document

01.10.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 42 October 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 42 October 1, 2003") [#47561],  [ID 2635]

Document(s): Open document

15.09.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 41 September 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 41 September 15, 2003") [#47562],  [ID 2636]

Document(s): Open document

01.09.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 40 September 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 40 September 1, 2003") [#47564],  [ID 2637]

Document(s): Open document

22.08.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Poor security frustrating aid and development work ("Poor security frustrating aid and development work") [#15583],  [ID 2638]

Document(s): Open document

18.08.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR assistance in returnee areas ("Afghanistan humanitarian update No. 68") [#15300],  [ID 2639]

"This year UNHCR is using more national NGOs than ever before as implementing partners in Afghanistan. Over 2002, most local NGOs still operated under the umbrella of international organisations. Out of some 100 sub-agreements signed by UNHCR last year, fewer than 20 were with national aid agencies. In the first six months of 2003, the refugee agency has signed 27 sub-agreements with local NGOs, 16 with government offices, and the balance (47) with international agencies.

Among the UNHCR-financed activities underway nationwide are 2,840 wells and water points, including 1,011 dug wells, 1,003 tube wells and 24 water piping schemes. Another 298 existing wells are being deepened. Sanitation assistance includes the construction of 3,276 baths, of which 337 were completed by the end of July, and 14,940 latrines. UNHCR's partners have also completed seven irrigation projects in eastern Afghanistan.

The UN refugee agency has so far received $115 million from its donors; UNHCR's 2003 budget amounts to $185 million to assist Afghan returnees and refugees in neighbouring countries."

Document(s): Open document

15.08.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 39 August 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 39 August 15, 2003") [#47565],  [ID 2640]

Document(s): Open document

01.08.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 38 August 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 38 August 1, 2003") [#47566],  [ID 2641]

Document(s): Open document

01.08.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 38 August 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 38 August 1, 2003") [#47566],  [ID 2642]

Document(s): Open document

15.07.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 37 July 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 37 July 15, 2003") [#47567],  [ID 2643]

Document(s): Open document

01.07.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 36 July 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 36 July 1, 2003") [#47569],  [ID 2644]

Document(s): Open document

23.06.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

Most serious obstacle to adequate assistance to returnees and IDPs is the perilous security situation; lack of systematic monitoring, especially in rural and remote areas ("Out of sight, out of mind: The fate of the Afghan returnees") [#13706],  [ID 2645]

"The most serious obstacle to adequate assistance to returnees and IDPs, and also to the conduct of comprehensive and effective monitoring of returnees, is the perilous security situation that exists across Afghanistan today. While Amnesty International delegates were in the north of the country every single province in the northern region was under UN travel restrictions due to the security situation. UN activities are currently suspended in Uruzgan, Zabul and northern Hilmand provinces, and both UN and NGO presence is limited also in southern Hilmand and parts of Kandahar province. By severely restricting the movement of UN staff, especially international staff, this has the effect of rendering monitoring of returnees ad hoc and extremely limited to those areas that are secure for aid agencies. Refugee and IDP returnees who have returned to their places of origin lying outside these areas are likely, therefore, not to have their post-return protection and assistance needs assessed either at all or until it is too late and another cycle of displacement has begun. Much of the monitoring instituted by UNHCR in Afghanistan effectively did not begin before October or November 2002. Given that the large returns from neighbouring countries took place in the summer of 2002, there are concerns that the monitoring exercises missed the immediate protection concerns of many of the returnees. One humanitarian agency in Kabul told Amnesty International that the lack of systematic monitoring, especially in rural and remote areas, has meant that contact on protection and assistance issues between returnees and international agencies such as UNHCR tends to be ad hoc and often little more than a matter of chance. Returnee monitoring that pays specific attention to the post-return needs and protection issues of women is another area in which monitoring to date has been largely inadequate. An inability to recruit sufficient national women staff has rendered many monitoring missions simply unable to gain access to women in the communities they have gone to monitor. Inadequate monitoring results in a situation where relevant agencies and the international community lack comprehensive information as to the actual post-return conditions for refugees and IDPs, and thus on the sustainability of return and likelihood of further displacement. Women also usually have very limited access to traditional leadership, such as the shura (traditional village council) , which many agencies turn to for the selection of beneficiaries for various post-return assistance activities such as shelter projects and cash-forwork schemes."

Document(s): Open document

23.06.2003 - Source: Amnesty International

Lack of monitoring and assistance in urban areas ("Out of sight, out of mind: The fate of the Afghan returnees") [#13706],  [ID 2646]

"Amnesty International is concerned about the decision taken by UNHCR, among other agencies, not to actively monitor and, in most cases, assist returnees in urban areas. During the return movements in 2002, UNHCR reported that the majority of returnees went back to urban areas.43 It is almost certain that this trend is being repeated in the returns taking place in 2003. Despite this fact, however, UNHCR only started a very limited post-return monitoring programme in some urban centres in spring 2003, and provides no reintegration assistance at all. As this report has noted previously, it is not possible to substantiate the assumption held by many that all returnees to urban centres find themselves secure and able to sustain this return. Lack of access to employment, to adequate shelter given the depleted housing stock of many cities including Kabul, and to security for many vulnerable groups including female headed households and unaccompanied women, has meant that urban centres can be as treacherous for returnees as rural areas. Returnees are often forced to occupy deserted buildings and land, often living in very poor and sometimes dangerous conditions. Amnesty International was told of more than one case of children suffering fatal falls from unprotected ledges in dilapidated buildings housing returnee families.
The absorption capacity of urban centres is also reaching its limit in many areas, and particularly in Kabul. Refugees, IDPs and rejected asylum seekers are “returning” to Kabul (even though this might not have been the place they left when forced into flight) in search of material, physical and sometimes legal protection. Mirza, who came to Kabul from Quetta, Pakistan with his family in July 2002, originates from Logar province in central Afghanistan. “There is no work in the countryside”, he told Amnesty International, “I had to come to Kabul to provide food for my family.” Agencies estimate that more than half a million returnees settled in Kabul in 2002. 44 In many respects this is making a ‘ticking bomb’ out of the capital, which is already seeing a rise in incidents of crime, overcrowding and violence against women."

Document(s): Open document

15.06.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 35 June 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 35 June 15, 2003") [#47570],  [ID 2647]

Document(s): Open document

01.06.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 34 June 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 34 June 1, 2003") [#47572],  [ID 2648]

Document(s): Open document

15.05.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 33 May 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 33 May 15, 2003") [#47573],  [ID 2649]

Document(s): Open document

01.05.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Return Information Update, Issue No. 32 May 1, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 32 May 1, 2003") [#47523],  [ID 2650]

Document(s): Open document

29.04.2003 - Source: BBC News

UK Voluntary return scheme to Afghanistan used by only 39 refugees; enforced returnees receive food parcels and training courses ("Failed asylum seekers arrive home") [#12327],  [ID 2651]

"Around 20 failed asylum seekers - all men - arrived on Tuesday morning after being flown out from Gatwick Airport.

Officials say the deportees will receive food parcels on their return and have access to training courses.

BBC correspondent Catherine Davis watched them arrive at Kabul airport.

"One man slung a jacket over his head to avoid publicity; others though were keen to tell their story," she said.

"None were pleased to be back. Some spoke of security concerns.

"Many said they had left Afghanistan for economic reasons and had been in Britain for around a year.

"One man sold his house and shop in Kabul to get to London. Now, he said, he had no resources at all."

Some of the men had been carried, handcuffed, onto the plane by security staff.

They are likely to be followed by many more enforced departures, as the government begins a programme to return as many people as possible to Afghanistan.
[...]
The Home Office stopped forcing refugees back to Afghanistan in 1995 because of instability there.

Failed Afghan asylum seekers were instead given exceptional leave to remain in the UK. Most were given a term of four years, which was then automatically renewed.

A voluntary scheme was set up to offer Afghan asylum seekers an incentive of up to £2,500 to return home.

This was expected to attract 1,000 people and possibly up to 17,000 - but was taken up by only 39.

The UK has since begun removing "exceptional leave to remain" for failed Afghan asylum seekers, replacing it instead with a tighter system of controls."

Document(s): Open document

15.04.2003 - Source: European Council on Refugees and Exiles

Success of return programmes should be linked to the sustainability of return ("Guidelines for the Treatment of Afghan Asylum Seekers & Refugees in Europe") [#12087],  [ID 2653]

"The success of return programmes to Afghanistan should be linked to and measured by the sustainability of return, not the scale or numbers of people returned. The return of large numbers of people to an already unstable situation where 1.8 million refugees have recently returned risks further exacerbating instability and might lead to further internal displacement, and to large groups being forced to leave once again. There is evidence that previous returns, in particular 261,000 from Iran and 1.5 million from Pakistan, were not in fact voluntary and that a great deal of pressure was exerted by these governments, including police harassment and the removal of socio-economic benefits. These returns may not therefore be sustainable; in fact humanitarian organisations in Pakistan have reported that a number of repatriated refugees, who were unable to support themselves in Afghanistan have been returning there, this may potentially amount to tens if not hundreds of thousands."

Document(s): Open document

01.04.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Return Information Update Issue No. 30, 15 - 31 March 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update Issue No. 30, 15 - 31 March 2003") [#47522],  [ID 2652]

Document(s): Open document

15.03.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Return Information Update Issue No. 29 (1 - 15 March 2003) ("UNHCR Return Information Update Issue No. 29 (1 - 15 March 2003)") [#47521],  [ID 2654]

Document(s): Open document

03.2003 - Source:

UNHCR: Spring repatriation from Iran and Pakistan starts; job-creation programmes underway, refugees cite concern about security, shelter and employment ("03.2003 - UNHCR: Afghanistan spring repatriation underway") [ID 2655]

"The spring repatriation season to Afghanistan is getting underway. Today some 1,000 Afghans left the Katcha Garhi refugee camp on the edge of Peshawar, Pakistan. From neighbouring Iran, a total of 1,117 refugees returned to Afghanistan over the past two days, signalling an important increase over recent months. The returns on Sunday and Monday included 460 UNHCR/Iranian government-facilitated returns and 657 spontaneous returnees. [...]
UNHCR plans to help some 1.2 million refugees to return to Afghanistan this year from Pakistan, Iran, and the Central Asian states, along with another 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who will be assisted homewards. Refugees returning under the facilitated return initiative receive a small travel grant of between $3 and $30 depending on the distance to their home communities, along with some food and other assistance provided inside Afghanistan.
Recent rains across Afghanistan have eased the drought in the north and alleviated some water problems in the south and east of the country, encouraging some people to repatriate home. While important job-creating development is underway in Afghanistan, refugees cite concerns about security, shelter and employment.
UNHCR so far has received $47 million out of $195 million needed for the Afghanistan programme and to assist Afghan refugees in surrounding countries."

Document(s): 03.2003 - UNHCR: Afghanistan spring repatriation underway

15.02.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Return Information Update Issue No 27 February 1 - 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Repatriation Procedures - Year 2003: UNHCR Return Information Update Issue No 27 February 1 - 15, 2003") [#47520],  [ID 2656]

"UNHCR Assistance:
UNHCR staff will verify returnees before they enter the Encashment Centre. In addition to other verification methods, stamped family photographs will be presented together with VRF by the head of household. UNHCR staff member will verify the photograph with the physically present family members. Only family members recognizable in the photograph will receive assistance (i.e., those family members who cannot be recognized in the photograph because of damage to the film, or because female family members are veiled, hidden or disguised, will not be eligible for assistance).
Repatriating refugees (from neighbouring countries) will receive returnee assistance packages, including food and non-food items.
Food Assistance:
Food assistance for an average family of 5-6 will be 150kg of wheat.
- Family size: 2 persons - 50 kg
- Family size: 3 to 4 persons - 100 kg
- Family size: 5 to 6 persons - 150 kg
- Family size: 7 to 9 persons - 200 kg
- Family size: 10 to15 persons - 250 kg
- Family size: 16 and more - 300 kg
Non-food Assistance:
Family packages of Non-food items will consist of the following:
Family sizes: Hygienic cloth Plastic sheet Soap
2 persons 2 sqm 1 piece 0,5 kg
3 to 4 persons 2 sqm 1 piece 1,0 kg
5 to 6 persons 2 sqm 2 pieces 1,5 kg
7 to 9 persons 4 sqm 2 pieces 2,0 kg
10 to 15 persons 6 sqm 3 pieces 3,0 kg
16 and more 8 sqm 4 pieces 4,0 kg
Families consisting of one person will be combined with other families to make a minimum distribution unit. Distribution will be carried out at the designated Distribution Centres by the UNHCR Implementing Partners. Returnees will be instructed where to collect their return assistance package only after they have reached the Encashment Centre and have informed UNHCR of their final destination: a clerk will write the address on the original copy of the VRF.
Note: Returnees should not approach just any Distribution Centre, but only the one marked on their VRF, otherwise they will not receive assistance.
Transport Assistance:
As in 2002 transport assistance in cash will be provided to returnees at the Encashment Centres in Afghanistan. There are ten (10) Enchashment Centres operating in the following cities:
Pul-I-Charkhi, Ghazni, Mohmand Dara, Zaranj, Delaram, Daman, Mazar-I-Sharif,
Pul-I-Khumri, Kunduz, and Herat. Two additional encashment centres are scheduled to open in Gardez and Khost.
Returnees will be able to access basic assistance in each of the Encashment
Centres, i.e. water, sanitation facilities, and emergency health care. In addition, children under 5 years of age will be vaccinated – (families are advised to have on hand the previous vaccination cards, if they have them) -and all family members will participate in a mine awareness session. Returnees transiting through certain Encashment Centres will be provided with
overnight facilities.
• Depending on final destination in Afghanistan, each family member will receive between 3 to 30 dollars.
• Transport (cash) assistance to returnees will be limited to 7 persons per family.
• Children under12 months of age (under one year) will receive only half of the amount given to other members of the family.
• Returnees from Iran with final destination of Herat City will not receive transport assistance, as their transportation to Herat City is funded by UNHCR . But they will receive food and non-food assistance at Distribution Centre in Herat City.
• Returnees from the camps in Pakistan will receive 5 dollars per family in addition to the established amount, if they transport construction materials. Transportation of construction materials will be certified by a special note made on the VRF at Registration
Point in Pakistan.
• Properly filled, signed and stamped VRFs will be valid for seven days (from the day the returnees leave the Iris Recognition Centre, and arrive at the Encashment Centre inside Afghanistan), unless the delay is justified and accepted by the Repatriation Officer at the Encashment Centre. Those returnees who have to approach two Encashment Centres for cash assistance, must arrive at the first Encashment Centre within seven days.
• Returnees traveling to distances farther inside Afghanistan will receive transport assistance at various stages along the journey. For example, refugees returning to Kabul from Iran will receive an initial sum on arrival at the Zaranj Encashment Centre, stopping again at Pul-I-Charki to receive the second portion of their assistance. Clerks in the first Encashment Centre will write the name of the second Encashment Centre on the VRF.
• Returnees, who do not approach the first centre but proceed directly to the second will be entitled only to the second portion of the cash assistance.
• Returnees who arrive at the Encashment Centre which is not mentioned in their VRF will lose their entitlement to cash assistance."

Document(s): Open document

01.02.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Return Information Update Issue No. 26 (January 15 - 31, 2003) ("Return Information Update Issue No. 26 (January 15 - 31, 2003)") [#47574],  [ID 2657]

Document(s): Open document

27.01.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Reports on conditions of some 4,000 internally displaced persons in Kabul ("Afghanistan: IDPs in Kabul face bleak conditions") [#10495],  [ID 2658]

"As winter temperatures drop, conditions for some 4,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the Afghan capital, Kabul, remain bleak. The city has seen a major influx of returnees, many of whom lack adequate shelter and food.

"We have no firewood to even make tea," Qandi Gul, a 40-year-old widow standing in front of her tent with her three bare-foot children told IRIN at the Chaman Huzuri IDP camp in Kabul. All her children had coughs, she said, warning that many children would die in the camp if it snowed. "We are in dire need of clothes, blankets and carpets," she said, pointing out that the floor of the tent was too damp to sleep on.

Chaman Huzuri, is one 10 IDP camps established in the city over the past eight months and, according to Mohammad Halim, an inhabitant of the camp, the number of displaced families arriving there has been rising; housing has become a critical issue for most Kabul residents.

"I came to the camp five months ago," Abdul Sameh told IRIN, because he could no longer afford the rent of his previous home. The former civil servant, who arrived from Pakistan last year, said lack of employment opportunities had pushed him into this state of misery.

Originally from Parvan Province north of Kabul, Abdul Sameh’s home had been burnt to the ground during fierce fighting between Taliban and Northern Alliance forces in 1998. The father-of-seven said many camp residents - particularly women and children – were suffering from rheumatism and cold.

Asked what their main problem areas were within the camps, most families interviewed by IRIN pointed to a severe lack of winter clothing, fuel, drinking water and access to health care.

"There has been very little assistance from aid agencies," Halim said, noting that whatever help had arrived had been very irregular. "We have not received any regular assistance so far."

Like many residents, Halim complained that the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had neglected them, an accusation the agency denied to IRIN on 23 January.

While recognising that conditions within the camp were adverse and unsuited to coping with winter conditions, a UNHCR spokeswoman, Maki Shinohara, told IRIN that UNHCR was working with a number of agencies in the provision of assistance to help affected families get through the winter.

She emphasised, however, that UNHCR wanted these people to return to their places of origin. "Once we start giving out a lot of aid, it will undermine the whole purpose," she said, adding that some people in the camps were trying to seem more visible to attract attention for assistance. She reaffirmed that UNHCR’s strategy was to try and focus assistance on rural communities where possible, with a view to curbing the flow of IDPs into the city.

Shinohara noted that over the past year Kabul Province alone had seen an influx of some 650,000 returnees - the vast majority from neighbouring Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Zubair Omari, a programme officer for the UK-based NGO, Islamic Relief-UK (IRUK), told IRIN the 4,000 or so people inhabiting the 10 camps in Kabul were in urgent need of non-food related items such as clothing and heating facilities. "Their condition is worsening as the weather gets colder," Omari asserted, adding that IRUK had begun distributing winter clothing to the families last week."

Document(s): Open document

15.01.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Return Information Update, Issue No. 25 January 1 - 15, 2003 ("UNHCR Return Information Update, Issue No. 25 January 1 - 15, 2003") [#47519],  [ID 2659]

Document(s): Open document

06.01.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR: Assistance to returnees and IDPs during 2002 ("UNHCR Afghanistan Information Bulletin December 2002") [#10329],  [ID 2660]

Document(s): Open document
Open document

12.2002 - Source: Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit

Critical assessment of UNHCR policy of repatriation to Afghanistan; includes analysis of current situation in Pakistan and Iran ("Taking Refugees for a Ride? The politics of refugee return to Afghanistan (David Turton, Peter Marsden)") [#10858],  [ID 2661]

Document(s): Open document

22.08.2002 - Source: Glatzer, Bernt

Stellungnahme v. 22.8.2002 an VG Hamburg - 4 VG A 1863/2000 - ("Stellungnahme v. 22.8.2002 an VG Hamburg - 4 VG A 1863/2000 -") [#9781],  [ID 2664]

Document(s): Open document

07.06.2002 - Source:

UNHCR: Declining pace of donor contribution may lead to reduction or halting of assistance to returnees ("07/06/2002 - UNHCR: Afghanistan Humanitarian Update No. 62") [ID 2665]

"The international effort to rebuild Afghanistan and provide a sustainable future for its people urgently needs support. Contributions are increasingly insufficient and slow to arrive, hampering the relief effort.
[...]
The Afghans' enthusiasm for return has exceeded expectations, straining aid agency resources and Afghanistan's fragile absorption capacity. Meanwhile, the declining pace of donor contributions is affecting many agencies, with some unable to provide much-needed reintegration assistance, transport or food aid, jeopardizing the sustainability of the refugees' return.

Food stocks are low due to the four-year drought, exacerbated by Afghanistan's long-time economic collapse. Afghans returning to the south under the U.N.'s assisted return programme currently receive no wheat, while in other areas they get only one-third of the planned food ration; these people do get vouchers so they may later collect their wheat.

UNHCR had planned to assist up to 1.2 million Afghans home this year, but it has now tripled the planning figure for Pakistan alone to 1.2 million, while also expecting 400,000 to return from Iran and that another 400,000 IDPs would be assisted homewards.

Without fresh contributions, the U.N. refugee agency will run out of funding by the end of June. UNHCR requires $271 million through year-end, but has so far received only $180 million. UNHCR's relief effort is entering its most costly phase, with expenses running at $20 million a month. The agency operates nearly 30 offices throughout Afghanistan, with more than 500 national and international staff. UNHCR plans to fund 96,000 basic shelter kits this year, with partners already identifying needy families to receive the first 30,000 kits.

Due to the unexpected scale of the voluntary returns and the fact that UNHCR has had to take on new functions, field staff are reviewing 2002 planning and budget figures. If fresh contributions do not arrive, UNHCR will have to consider some very hard choices, including possibly reducing or even halting assistance to future returnees."

Document(s): 07/06/2002 - UNHCR: Afghanistan Humanitarian Update No. 62

07.05.2002 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR: Afghanistan aktuell (in German): Assistance for returnees expected to last 3 months ("Afghanistan aktuell v. 07.05.2002") [#6749],  [ID 2666]

Many returnees do no longer have property at their places of origin, assistance for returnees is expected to last for the first three months, sustainability of returns at risk if international aid is not disbursed at a quicker pace

"In den vergangenen Wochen haben eine Reihe von Organisationen Aufrufe zu Hilfe für Afghanistan gestartet. UNHCR hat darauf hingewiesen, dass die Hilfe für die afghanischen Bevölkerung noch nicht ausreicht, während die Zahl der zurückkehrenden Flüchtlinge zunimmt.

Seit dem 1. März sind über 484.000 Afghanen mit Hilfe von UNHCR zurückgekehrt; morgen könnte die Grenze von einer halben Million überschritten werden. Zusätzlich sind mehr als 150.000 binnenvertriebene Afghanen mit Hilfe der Internationalen Organisation für Migration (IOM) und von UNHCR in ihre Heimatorte zurückgekehrt.

Grund zur Sorge gibt die Tatsache, dass viele der Heimkehrer zuhause keinen Besitz haben, abgesehen von den Familienpaketen mit Hilfsgütern und drei Monatsrationen Nahrung, die sie zur Erleichterung ihrer Rückkehr erhalten. Diese Pakete werden ihnen über die ersten zwölf Wochen hinweghelfen, aber die internationale Gemeinschaft muss gewährleisten, dass ihre Rückkehr nachhaltig ist."

Document(s): 1896afg.doc