More Afghan refugee camps close in Pakistan as part of UN repatriation plan

Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Nations refugee agency have agreed on the closure of three refugee camps in Pakistan while pledging to step up their efforts to find solutions for 2.6 million Afghan refugees still left there.

The decisions came at the latest meeting earlier this week of the tripartite commission, comprising the two countries and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the voluntary repatriation of the Afghans.

“We welcome the Government of Pakistan’s decision to close three camps, Girdi Jungle and Pir Alizai in Baluchistan and Kacha Gari in North West Frontier Province, by the end of July,” UNHCR’s top representative at the meeting, Ekber Menemencioglu, said. “We are especially grateful for its commitment to closely coordinate the closure and consolidation process with UNHCR and the Government of Afghanistan.”

Since 2002, more than 4.5 million Afghans have returned home, 3 million from Pakistan, and many others from Iran. The voluntary repatriation operation is the largest in UNHCR history and is regarded as one of the major achievements of Afghanistan's reconstruction process over the past five years following decades of Russian occupation and civil war.

UNHCR estimates that some 2.6 million Afghans still remain in Pakistan. Describing their return as “a sharp challenge,” Mr. Menemencioglu noted that many had lived in Pakistan for more than 20 years, half were under the age of eighteen, and many originated from insecure or underdeveloped areas in Afghanistan.

He said UNHCR believed a comprehensive approach was necessary to tackle all aspects of the protracted refugee situation and had proposed new arrangements, including an increased cash allowance for returnees to sustain the future momentum of repatriation.

But generating the necessary resources would require high-level political commitment from all parties, he stressed.