VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES FROM IRAN PICKING UP, UNHCR SAYS
Press Release
AFG/95
PI/1145
VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION OF AFGHAN REFUGEES FROM IRAN PICKING UP, UNHCR SAYS
19990611 ISLAMABAD, 11 June (United Nations Information Centre) -- Since January some 43,000 Afghan refugees have been voluntarily repatriated from Pakistan and only 7,000 from Iran, "but the pace is picking up" said today Ahmed Said Farah, Chief of Mission for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)-Afghanistan at the weekly United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) briefing in Islamabad. "We are now revising our estimates and budget in the hope that we can voluntarily return 104,000 people from Pakistan and 100,000 from Iran."According to Mr. Farah, "UNHCR wants to encourage the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees and to discourage expulsions". He added: "We now have a draft agreement with the Government of Iran, outlining the method of repatriation and we are hoping that, when it is signed, up to 3,000 Afghan refugees will return voluntarily to Afghanistan every week."
Last year, an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 refugees were expelled from Iran back into Afghanistan, and the forced repatriation continues to this day. Mr. Farah however acknowledged that Iran, like Pakistan, had "done tremendous work" in hosting Afghan refugees over the years, and often without all the necessary support from the international community. Even though some 4 million people have been repatriated from both countries, 1.2 million still remain in Pakistan and 1.4 million in Iran.
Mr. Farah underlined some of the difficulties faced by UNHCR, including the drying-up of funds from donors. "This is not only a sign of donor fatigue after 20 years of continuous assistance, but also a result of the donors' reluctance to fund programmes in a country where basic human rights appear to be violated", he said. "As far as we are concerned though, we cannot deny any refugee the right to return", he stated. According to UNHCR surveys conducted after the return of refugees to Afghanistan, more than 80 per cent of them feel secure in their homes.
The Spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan, Stephanie Bunker, also speaking at the UNIC briefing, announced that on 10 June, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representatives in
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Kabul had begun moving polio vaccines across the front lines into Parwan Province (North of Kabul) -- as part of the second round of the National Immunization Days.
"This development follows written confirmation to the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) that the Northern Alliance will respect the United Nations-requested ceasefire for that purpose. So far, written assurance is still awaited from Taliban authorities, but they are cooperating with the campaign and they have provided verbal guarantees", said Ms. Bunker.
The second round of the campaign, scheduled for 13-15 June, targets 4.4 million children under five in every part of the country. In the first round of National Immunization Days in May, about 75 per cent of the children were reached. Ms. Bunker quoted UNICEF Representative Louis-Georges Arsenault as saying: "Every child has the right to be immunized. It seems that the Afghan authorities have understood that the health of their own children and the future of the country are at stake here."
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