Help Rebuild Former Refugees' Lives in Afghanistan

Last month, UNHCR has begun distribution of winter assistance to nearly quarter of a million people (40,000 families) in remote and inaccessible areas of Afghanistan, as well as in Kabul. The recipients are recent returnees from Pakistan and Iran, internally displaced people – including people displaced by conflict – and others at risk in the cold weather.

Winter temperatures in Afghanistan can fall to around -26°C and for this reason it is important that people are protected from the cold. UNHCR has primary responsibility for delivering winter assistance to returnees and vulnerable displaced people in rural areas of Afghanistan. Last winter, however, and because of difficult conditions in informal sites around Kabul, we also delivered help there. The work is a joint effort coordinated by the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, OCHA, and the National Disaster Management Authority.

The relief items going out around the country include tents, blankets, plastic sheets, fuel, sleeping mats, lanterns, jerry cans, kitchen sets, soap and warm clothes. This year, 30,000 of those who will receive winter assistance will be people living in Kabul's informal settlements.

As well as providing help for the vulnerable, the winter distribution serves to mitigate against new displacement from rural communities where alternative support possibilities can otherwise be limited. Nearly 460,000 people have been displaced by conflict in Afghanistan. Most are in the south (137,000 persons), followed by the west (121,527) and east (95,134).

Returned refugees and internally displaced people often live in extremely bad conditions in isolated communities – communities rarely seen by the general public and where access is very difficult. Those receiving our aid include really destitute returnees and IDP groups, families headed by women, or elderly or disabled, and children.

Since 2001, UNHCR has helped around 4.7 million Afghan refugees voluntarily return home. However, nearly three million registered Afghan refugees are still living in exile in Pakistan and Iran.

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More than 50,000 Afghan refugees have returned from exile in Pakistan and Iran so far this year, up more than 10% versus the same time period last year.

From January to August, UNHCR helped an average of 213 refugees repatriate every day compared to 190 a year earlier, when 45,000 returned in the first eight months. Of the 50,000 returnees this year, some 40,000 came from Pakistan and just over 10,000 from Iran.

About a third of the returning refugees went to the eastern provinces of Kabul and Nangarhar, with about 11% heading to Kunduz province in the north. The other most popular destinations were Herat, Baghlan, Kunar, Kandahar, Paktya, Balkh, Logar and Laghman provinces.

More than 5.7 million people have returned to Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001. Around  some 4.6 million with UNHCR help. The return movement continues but more than 3 million people remain in exile, mostly in Pakistan and Iran. Many fled more than 20 years ago during the Soviet occupation, but large numbers were born in exile.

Many of those returning from Pakistan this year cited the high cost of living, especially food and fuel, increased competition for jobs and escalating security concerns in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The level of return from Iran, where 1 million Afghan refugees still live, remains stable.

UNHCR's representative in Afghanistan, Peter Nicolaus, praised the two neighbouring countries for hosting large numbers of refugees, while calling for "continued support [to Pakistan and Iran] from the international community to meet the demands of hosting such large numbers."

Whilst most of the returnees have gone to their places of origin, some have been unable to return to their home towns and villages for a variety of reasons, including lack of available land or shelter, few employment opportunities, food shortages and soaring prices.

UNHCR helps each returnee with a cash grant of about $150 to cover transportation and other expenses. The most vulnerable receive additional support according to their needs.

"While the humanitarian needs of returning refugees remain extensive, investments in long-term development programmes are required to enable sustainable return and reintegration and to improve Afghanistan's present limited capacity to effectively absorb future return," Nicolaus stressed.

This is the objective of a "solutions strategy" developed earlier this year by UNHCR and the governments of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Key aims are to boost job opportunities and provide access to basic social services.

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• Help Afghan Returnees Rebuild Their Homes -- And Their Lives