UN agency appeals to Pakistan to delay closure of Afghan refugee camp

The United Nations refugee agency has asked Pakistan to temporarily suspend the closure of a major camp for displaced Afghans amid fears that tens of thousands are being pressured into leaving and may not be able to settle down in Afghanistan before winter begins.

The Jalozai camp in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) was scheduled to close on 15 July, which would have provided sufficient opportunity for camp residents to settle down in Afghanistan.

That deadline was extended to 31 August, as agreed by the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier this year, the agency noted in a press release issued today.

Deeply concerned about a possible humanitarian crisis resulting from a large number of returns this late in the repatriation season, UNHCR has asked Pakistan to consider temporarily suspending the closure until 2008. The agency noted that previous camp closures carried out late in the year have resulted in internal displacement and returnee families living in inadequate makeshift shelters over the winter.

Under the Tripartite Agreement signed on 2 August, the two countries and UNHCR agreed that repatriation should be voluntary and gradual. They also agreed that the 2007 closure of the four refugee camps – Kacha Gari and Jalozai in NWFP, and Jungle Pir Alizai and Girdi Jungle in Balochistan – should take into account the security conditions and absorption capacity in Afghanistan.

The closure of Kacha Gari camp at the end of July, following several months of preparation, led to the return of almost 40,000 Afghans to their homeland.

UNHCR believes that given the very short deadline before the end of the month, it will be impossible to manage a safe, voluntary, and sustainable repatriation operation from Jalozai, which has a population of over 100,000 people.

Under the camp closure agreement, Afghans can choose either to repatriate to their homeland or to relocate to existing camps within Pakistan proposed by the Government. So far this year, only 7,000 residents of Jalozai have chosen to return voluntarily to Afghanistan, and no one has so far opted to move to the relocation sites.

In accordance with the agreement on the registration of Afghans reached in April 2006 between Pakistan and UNHCR, those holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards can stay in Pakistan until the end of 2009.