Afghanistan Policy Page

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

14 April 2010

Key Facts & Take Aways

• Up to 8 million Afghan refugees have been affected since 1978. The UNHCR believes approx. 2.6 million remain outside Afghan borders (1.7m in Pakistan; 935,000 in Iran); making it the largest single refugee diaspora population in the world.

• The UNHCR estimates that 5.6 million Afghans have returned home since 2002, causing a 25% increase in Afghanistan’s population.

• Immediately after the Soviet invasion it is estimated that 3.7 million refugees fled to Iran and Pakistan, and more continued to flee throughout the 80s and 90s.

• Conflict in Afghanistan since 1978 has also created significant numbers of IDPs. During the civil war betweenn Mujahedeen factions in the 1990s, up to a million people, mostly Kabul residents, were displaced.

• Since 2001, the UN estimates that armed conflict has resulted in 296,000 total IDPs at the present time – with ongoing fighting increasing this number.

• UNHCR figures are based on officially registered refugees – many more remain unregistered.

Pakistan

• Roughly two-thirds of all Afghan refugees are based in Pakistan, mostly in the north west of the country. The majority of these individuals fled as a result of the Afghan-Soviet conflict – over 50% of families moved in 1979 and 1980 alone.

• UNHCR estimates 80% of all Afghans remaining in Pakistan have been living there for at least two decades; over half of these were born in Pakistan as ‘second generation’ refugees. This has created significant issues in encouraging those remaining to ‘return’ to a home that they have never seen.

• Many of the camps that originally sheltered the refugees have been closed as greater numbers moved to urban areas. Experts have raised concerns over the infiltration of refugee communities by the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups.

• Official registration of Afghan refugees in Pakistan began in October 2006, conducted by Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority. Afghan registrants receive a ‘Proof of Registration’ (PoR) card that allows them to live and work in Pakistan for three years.

• On March 25, 2010, the Pakistani government endorsed a new Strategy for the Management of Afghans in Pakistan, which includes the extension until the end of 2012 of (PoR) cards, alongside continued voluntary repatriation to Afghanistan.

Iran

• In 1990, refugee numbers peaked with over 3 million Afghan refugees estimated to be living in Iran. An estimated 1.4 million returned home in 1992 following the fall of the Communist government. Unlike in Pakistan, nearly all refugees live amongst urban communities, not in camps.

• The Iranian Bureau of Aliens and Foreign Immigrant Affairs (BAFIA) conducts regular registrations of Afghan refugees – granting them access to basic health and education, and issuing Temporary Work Permits - 300,000 in 2009.

• The Iranian government has conducted several ‘forced’ returns of refugees to Afghanistan in recent years that have drawn criticism from international human rights bodies and the Government of Afghanistan.

• The deteriorating economy and security in Afghanistan in recent years has inhibited voluntary return of refugees based in Iran (UNHCR records barely 5000 in 2009). A ‘boomerang’ effect has also occurred, with former refugees crossing back into Iran because they could not sustain themselves in Afghanistan.

Key Issues in Afghanistan

• The sustainability of returning refugees to their former homes is a significant challenge – in providing them primarily with shelter, and also adequate access to basic utilities, education, health care, and work opportunities.

• The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MORR) leads the Government of Afghanistan’s efforts in assisting its citizens in returning from exile. In 2008 the government adopted the Refugee Return and IDP Strategy (RRI) to run various programs providing water, emergency shelter, income-generation and other assistance.

• Land rights remain a contentious issue for the reintegration of refugees. Returning refugees can find their former homes granted to another family; looking ahead, any future reintegration of former insurgents will contribute to this problem.

• Urbanization – the majority of refugees and IDPs in Afghanistan flock to urban areas. Kabul’s population has swelled 25% due to returnees since 2002.

Internally Displaced Persons

• The majority of IDPs are from the south of Afghanistan where conflict with armed insurgent groups remains the most severe. UNHCR records that IDP figures rose in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2009.

• The recent NATO campaign in Marjah, Helmand Province has pushed IDP figures up in 2010. UNHCR reports that 27,700 people had been registered for displacement by February 2010. It is anticipated that a planned operation in Kandahar will create similar humanitarian needs this year.

Possible Questions

• What is the role of international donor countries in assisting the Afghan government in reintegrating returning refugees? How successful are reintegration efforts?

• What efforts are being made to educate and protect vulnerable second generation Afghans born into refugee status?

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