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Progress in Afghan refugee screening
News Stories, 11 September 2001
ISLAMABAD, Sept 11 (UNHCR) – Joint UNHCR/Pakistan screening teams at the makeshift Jalozai site and Nasir Bagh refugee camp in north-west Pakistan have processed more than 1,000 cases of Afghans seeking protection in Pakistan. Teams comprising 55 screeners have completed 739 cases, determining whether the Afghans qualify for refugee status and can remain in Pakistan under an agreement between UNHCR and the government of Pakistan. Of the 739 cases completed so far, 519 have been accepted, 148 have been rejected, and 59 have opted for voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan.
So far, a total of 1,733 accepted Afghans from Jalozai have moved to the better-equipped New Shamshatoo refugee camp. UNHCR has provided the refugees with tents, groundsheets, jerry cans, buckets, kitchen sets, washing powder and soap. They will also receive food assistance from the World Food Programme.
The screening process involves a first registration stage to collect basic data and determine whether the Afghans wish to be considered for refugee status in Pakistan. This is followed by a full-fledged refugee status determination procedure for those seeking protection. On September 10, the joint team registered another 1,530 Afghan families in Nasir Bagh refugee camp Of this group, 1,419 families decided to return home, while 111 families choose to seek protection in Pakistan. Since the beginning of the screening exercise on August 6, the screeners have processed 22,559 families altogether at both sites. Some 14,675 families have been registered and will be interviewed to determine their refugee status, while 7,884 families have opted to repatriate to Afghanistan.
UNHCR and the Pakistani Commissioner for Afghan Refugees have agreed to establish 14 review teams in Jalozai and 10 in Nasir Bagh. The review teams will deal with appeals and unresolved cases.
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UNHCR country pages
Rebuilding Lives in Afghanistan
With elections scheduled in October, 2004 is a crucial year for the future of Afghanistan, and Afghans are returning to their homeland in record numbers. In the first seven months of 2004 alone, more than half a million returned from exile. In all, more than 3.6 million Afghans have returned since UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme started in 2002.
The UN refugee agency and its partner organisations are working hard to help the returnees rebuild their lives in Afghanistan. Returnees receive a grant to cover basic needs, as well as access to medical facilities, immunisations and landmine awareness training.
UNHCR's housing programme provides tool kits and building supplies for families to build new homes where old ones have been destroyed. The agency also supports the rehabilitation of public buildings as well as programmes to rehabilitate the water supply, vocational training and cash-for-work projects.
Rebuilding Lives in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Rebuilding a War-Torn Country
The cycle of life has started again in Afghanistan as returnees put their shoulders to the wheel to rebuild their war-torn country.
Return is only the first step on Afghanistan's long road to recovery. UNHCR is helping returnees settle back home with repatriation packages, shelter kits, mine-awareness training and vaccination against diseases. Slowly but surely, Afghans across the land are reuniting with loved ones, reconstructing homes, going back to school and resuming work. A new phase in their lives has begun.
Watch the process of return, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction unfold in Afghanistan through this gallery.
Afghanistan: Rebuilding a War-Torn Country
Home Without Land
Land is hot property in mountainous Afghanistan, and the lack of it is a major reason Afghans in exile do not want to return.
Although landless returnees are eligible for the Afghan government's land allocation scheme, demand far outstrips supply. By the end of 2007, the authorities were developing 14 settlements countrywide. Nearly 300,000 returnee families had applied for land, out of which 61,000 had been selected and 3,400 families had actually moved into the settlements.
Desperate returnees sometimes have to camp in open areas or squat in abandoned buildings. Others occupy disputed land where aid agencies are not allowed to build permanent structures such as wells or schools.
One resilient community planted itself in a desert area called Tangi in eastern Afghanistan. With help from the Afghan private sector and the international community, water, homes, mosques and other facilities have sprouted – proof that the right investment and commitment can turn barren land into the good earth.
Posted on 31 January 2008
Home Without Land
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