Islamabad: More than 355,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from various countries this year a UN spokesman said Tuesday. Including spontaneous returns from Iran. Last week, more than 14,000 Afghan refugees returned home according to the UN High Commission for Refugees . That number is down from a nearly two month period when the agency witnessed 20,000 refugees repatriating weekly.
"Despite ongoing security problems in parts of the country and tremendous development and economic needs, Afghan refugees are still going back in significant numbers," said UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski at a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
The returns are part of a broader drive within Pakistan and to a lesser extent neighbouring Iran to repatriate Afghan refugees. Iran and Pakistan have hosted millions of Afghan refugees since 1980. The UNHCR believes there were 1.1 million Afghan refugees in Iran and 1.2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan at the start of this year. Both countries also have large numbers of Afghan nationals who are not considered refugees.
The refugee agency is also helping Afghans to return from further afield. So far this year, more than 370 refugees went back from 14 other countries, including Cambodia, Brazil, Ukraine and Malaysia. Afghans also returned from the five adjacent Central Asian states: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
This year, the UNHCR plans to provide 60,000 housing repair kits to Afghans going home with its assistance. Already, more than 12700 families have begun work using shelter construction kits, according to UNHCR.
At the same time, UNHCR has been distributing emergency aid to thousands of Afghan families who lost their homes and crops when dust storms swept western Afghanistan. The number of returning refugees is reduced from 2002, when more than 1.8 million Afghan refugees went back with UNHCR help, but a spokesman described the pace of returns as still "significant." At the height of returns to Afghanistan in May 2002, more than 20,000 people were repatriating daily.
