Repatriation and Settlement Cell is working under the direct supervision of CAR Punjab and executing project work since November 2010. The Cell aims to repatriate and reintegrate Afghan refugees to their Country of Origin i.e. Afghanistan with the close coordination of Afghan Elders, Law Enforcing Agencies, MoRR (Ministry of Refugee Repatriation) Govt. of Afghanistan, and NGOs. The Repatriation Cell performs all possible efforts & tactics to make the repatriation process smooth and efficacious by providing information on UNHCR’s facilitated repatriation operation, conditions of return, the repatriation cash grant inside Afghanistan and location of the encashment centers inside the country.
Voluntary Repatriation
The Tripartite agreement among Pakistan, Afghanistan and UNHCR envisages that the repatriation of Afghan refugees would be “voluntary and gradual and with dignity”.
More than 4 million Afghans have returned to their country of origin through the UNHCR’s assisted voluntary repatriation programe 2002. The biggest hurdle in the voluntary repatriation of the Afghan refugees has remained the non-conducive environment in Afghanistan mainly due to Government of Afghanistan’s lack of infrastructural capacity and required level of focus on the returnee issues. An increase in the number of voluntarily returning Afghan refugees is anticipated if the situation in Afghanistan starts gradually stabilizing. Voluntary repatriation has been considered as a durable / preferred solution, will remain one of the key priorities of Solution strategy of Afghan refugees (SSAR) program, supported through Enhanced Voluntary Return and Reintegration Package (EVRRP) as appropriate, and depending on the availability of resources. This process will be inevitably linked to provision of reintegration support in Afghanistan.
Volunteer Repatriation Centre (VRC) in Chamkani, Peshawar and Balili, Quetta process the repatriation of registered Afghan refugees, VRC are authorized to pay the encashment of US$200 per person after deregistering the Afghan refugee from database by taking his/her biometric and discarding the PoR card along with other necessary measures, in order to ensure that the same person may not avail the encashment facility or could claim to be registered PoR card holder any more. Beside the encashment the Afghan refugees also receive Non Food Items (NFIs) during repatriation to their homeland. The registered Afghans are repatriated through Torkham and Chaman border.
Repatriation of Afghan refugees from Punjab since 2010 are as under:
