Pakistan: Afghan screening progress

The joint UNHCR/Pakistan screening teams at the makeshift Jalozai site and Nasir Bagh refugee camp in north-west Pakistan in the last week have processed more than 1,000 cases of Afghans seeking protection in Pakistan.

The fifty-five screeners have completed 739 cases, of which 519 cases have been accepted and 148 cases rejected, while 59 cases opted for voluntary repatriation. Last week, UNHCR relocated the first Afghans accepted from the squalid Jalozai site to the better-equipped New Shamshatoo refugee camp. So far some 1,733 Afghans have been moved. 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.

Yesterday, the joint team registered another 1,530 Afghan families in Nasir Bagh, of whom 1,419 families decided to return home, while 111 families chose to seek protection in Pakistan.

Since 6 August, the screeners have processed 22,559 families. 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 Commissioner for Afghan Refugees (CAR) have agreed to establish 14 review teams in Jalozai and 10 in Nasir Bagh. The review teams will deal with appeal and unresolved cases.