UNHCR closes first Afghan-Pakistan border camp this year
News Stories, 23 March 2004
© UNHCR/J.Redden
Relocation trucks leaving Shalman camp for Kotkai camp in Pakistan.
GENEVA, March 23 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency's Afghan operation has taken another step forward with the closure of a camp in Pakistan and a new donation towards its under-funded programme for this year.
Over the weekend, UNHCR closed Shalman camp for Afghan refugees in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province after the camp's last inhabitants left for home with assistance from the refugee agency.
The last group of 148 Afghans were repatriated on Sunday, joining some 4,000 others who had headed homewards before them in recent weeks. A separate group of 4,800 who did not wish to go back to Afghanistan had earlier been relocated to Kotkai camp in Pakistan.
Shalman's closure is part of a plan to consolidate camps along the Pakistan-Afghan border that were set up to accommodate Afghans fleeing the fighting in their country in late 2001. As increasing numbers head home – 1.9 million in the last two years and more than 10,000 since the start of repatriation season in March this year – UNHCR is working with the Pakistani government to close and consolidate more border camps in the coming months.
Another 33,500 Afghan refugees have also returned from Iran so far this year. In all, UNHCR plans to assist some 400,000 refugees back to Afghanistan in 2004.
To help the returnees reintegrate in their home areas, the refugee agency has appealed for more than $122 million for its operations in Afghanistan this year. To date, it has received $29.7 million, including a recent contribution of $6.4 million from the Japanese government.
UNHCR providing shelter to Pakistan flood victims
The UN refugee agency is stepping up its efforts to distribute tents and other emergency supplies to families left homeless by severe flooding that hit parts of southern Pakistan in 2011. By early October, some 7,000 family tents had been provided to a national aid organization that is constructing small tent villages in southern Sindh province. A similar number of emergency household kits have also been supplied. Though the monsoon rains which caused the flooding have stopped, large areas remain under water and finding sufficient areas of dry land on which to pitch the tents remains a challenge. UNHCR has committed to providing 70,000 tents and relief kits to flood-stricken communities.
UNHCR providing shelter to Pakistan flood victims
Helping Flood Victims in Pakistan
UNHCR teams are distributing tents and other emergency aid to families displaced by severe flooding in Pakistan. More than five million people have been affected by this year's floods and government estimates put the number of families in urgent need of emergency shelter at over 200,000.
In southern Sindh province, which has been particularly hard hit, UNHCR has so far delivered 2,000 tents and 2,000 kits containing jerry cans, blankets and sleeping mats as well as 4,000 plastic sheets to be used for basic shelter. Many of the families displaced by the floods continue to live in makeshift shelters.
Helping Flood Victims in Pakistan
More focus needed on reintegration of former Afghan refugees
Many of the more than 5.5 million Afghan refugees who have returned home since 2002 are still struggling to survive. Lack of land, job opportunities and other services, combined with poor security in some places, has caused many returnees to head to urban areas. While cities offer the promise of informal day labour, the rising cost of rental accommodation and basic commodities relegate many returnees to life in one of the informal settlements which have mushroomed across Kabul in recent years. Some families are living under canvases and the constant threat of eviction, while others have gained a toe-hold in abandoned buildings around the city.
UNHCR gives humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable, and is currently rallying support from donors and humanitarian and development agencies to redouble efforts to help returning refugees reintegrate in Afghanistan.
More focus needed on reintegration of former Afghan refugees
Afghanistan: Mariam's Story
Mariam was a refugee in Iran for six years. The widow and mother returned in 2002 and has been internally displaced ever since. Her situation is very uncertain.
Pakistan: Flood Relief
Floods in Pakistan have ruined crops and destroyed homes. The rains have ended but displaced people will need help for weeks or months to come.
Pakistan: The Floods Return
Flooding has returned to Pakistan, forcing people to flee their homes for the second year in a row. A year after his wife died in floodwaters, Obhayo Babar is on the move again.
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