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UNHCR announces winter break for Afghan voluntary repatriation

ISLAMABAD Dec 03 : The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has announced it will suspend the voluntary repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan from 20 December 2005 until 01 March 2006, after a busy season that saw some 441,000 being assisted to return to their homeland, the highest annual return since 2002.

UNHCR temporarily suspends voluntary repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan during winter every year as the number of Afghans willing to repatriate during the season goes down significantly.

A similar suspension of the voluntary repatriation programme was implemented during the last three years of the programme. UNHCR staff, who usually use this period for training and preparations for the following year’s activities, will help the agency in its earthquake relief efforts.

In the four years of the voluntary repatriation programme, UNHCR has assisted more than 2.7 million Afghans to repatriate from Pakistan under the present Tripartite Agreement.

UNHCR assistance for Afghans returning from Pakistan will resume on 01 March 2006, launching the final year of the voluntary repatriation programme.

The Tripartite Agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which governs the repatriation programme, expires in December 2006.
Under the programme, UNHCR offers Afghans who wish to go home a package of travel assistance, varying from $4 to $36 per person depending on the distance travelled, and a cash payment of $12 per person to help them re-establish in Afghanistan. The benefits are paid on arrival in Afghanistan.

All those over the age of six who are repatriating with UNHCR assistance go through an iris recognition test that ensures no one receives the return help more than once. Younger people cannot be tested properly, so other verification checks are made by UNHCR staff.

A census conducted by the government of Pakistan and UNHCR in February-March 2005 counted 3.043 million Afghans in Pakistan, out of which around a million were living in camps. With the departure of some 441,000 Afghans from Pakistan since the census, there are about 2.6 million Afghans in Pakistan as of December 2005.