Involuntary returns to Afghanistan: Norway’s unearmarked funding is a fundamental part of ensuring that returns take place under safe conditions
Involuntary returns to Afghanistan: Norway’s unearmarked funding is a fundamental part of ensuring that returns take place under safe conditions
Marjan, 36, returned to Afghanistan from Iran with her three children after four years of living there. She lost her husband during the conflict in Herat before fleeing and now lives with her children in a single room in her father’s house. While grateful to be back in her own country, Marjan faces urgent challenges, including lack of a home, unemployment, and limited opportunities for her children’s education.
Some of the returns were voluntary, sometimes due to the security risks in Iran, while others were characterized by coercion and deportation. There has also been reports of a high number of Afghans experiencing discrimination, restricted freedom of movement and limited access to basic services in Iran.
The same applies to Pakistan. Some of the returns are based on the three-year-old Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan, which has led to Afghans being deported from Pakistan. In Islamabad and Punjab, Afghan refugees and Asylum-seekers continued to face discrimination and protection-related challenges, including arrests, detention, harassment by police, restrictions on freedom of movement, extortion, evictions by landlords, as well as limited access to public services and livelihood opportunities.
In the Pakistani province of Balochistan, security restrictions were also imposed, particularly affecting Afghan refugees' freedom of movement, which in turn made access to humanitarian services more difficult, including access to the former refugee village of Mohammad Khail and refugee settlements in Chaghi.
Boarder monitoring between Afghanistan and Pakistan identified cases of family separation, including unaccompanied children who have been separated from their families, as well as cases where family members had been detained. Similar incidents were also reported at the border between Iran and Afghanistan, where returnees were subjected to family separation, extortion and ill-treatment. These factors contribute to making safe returns more difficult. At times like these, when people face life-threatening challenges, Norway’s unearmarked funding to UNHCR is essential for providing humanitarian assistance to returnees.
Once returnees have crossed the border, they face further challenges, particularly when it comes to successful reintegration. Inadequate living conditions, limited livelihood opportunities, economic hardship and a lack of civil documentation have been identified, all of which contribute to making reintegration more difficult.
The economic hardship makes it challenging to cover the cost of basic necessities, such as food, rent, healthcare, document renewals, and health insurance fees. At the same time, it also results in negative coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals, borrowing money, and selling belongings. This exposes the entire family for protection risks, particularly children, as some are forced to work to help their family put food on the table instead of attending school, while other children are forced into marriage.
UNHCR’s response
With the support from Norway’s unearmarked funding to UNHCR, UNHCR and its partners have continued to operate at the Pakistani and Iranian boarders with Afghanistan, to ensure that returns take place under safe and dignified conditions. Returnees are provided with protection screening at the boarders and are referred to reception facilities in Afghanistan.
Approximately 2,800 households also received cash assistance in August to enable families to meet their most emergent needs during the return. Cash assistance is identified as a critical form of support, especially given the economic challenges of reintegration, such as rising costs, unemployment, and housing instability.
However, cash assistance has been reduced from $375 per person to only $170 per household due to reduced funding to UNHCR, which is making it challenging for returnees to meet their basic needs.
Upon arrival, UNHCR and its partners provided legal assistance, psychosocial support, business grants and training in long-term reintegration and how returnees can meet their most immediate needs. In Milak, at the Iran-Afghanistan border, returnees were provided with hot meals, a basic necessity that many had struggled to secure.
UNHCR has also strengthened is cooperation with the Pakistani government with the aim of improving the protection and inclusion of Afghans living there. In addition, UNHCR supported the launch of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s policy aimed at contributing to disaster risk reduction. The policy recognizes refugees and asylum-seekers as vulnerable groups who should be given access to the same protection as others before och during disasters.
UNHCR’s helpline in Iran has continued to experience high demand with around 38,800 calls during August, providing a practical example of people’s continued, significant need for support. Through this helpline, people also gained access to counseling, legal assistance, psychosocial support, and financial assistance.
While UNHCR continue to deliver humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan, current efforts are far from sufficient. Severe funding cuts have placed immense pressure on available resources, severely limiting our ability to reach all vulnerable groups.
The unsafe returns place people in a particularly vulnerable position, where Norway’s unearmarked funding to UNHCR is a vital component of the provision of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.
