Afghan tripartite meeting scheduled for this Friday

A meeting of the Tripartite Commission between the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan and UNHCR is planned for Friday at our [Geneva] headquarters.

Afghanistan's Deputy Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Mohammad Ghiaci, Ahmad Hosseini, adviser to Iran's Interior Minister and head of the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants, and UNHCR's Philippe Lavanchy and Filippo Grandi, our country representatives for the Islamic Republic of Iran and Afghanistan respectively, plan to review progress in the repatriation and how any obstacles to return can be removed, including promoting reintegration and reconstruction. They will also discuss ways to boost refugees' awareness about conditions in Afghanistan and plans for the repatriation of refugees during 2004. In addition, they will review possibilities for the involvement of refugees in December's constitutional Loya Jirga and the possible voter registration of refugees ahead of the elections scheduled for mid-2004.

Nearly 600,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since the repatriation got underway in 2002. UNHCR estimates that there are 1.1 million Afghan refugees in Iran.