Press release UNHCR: Kabul conference pledges support for sustainable return

Message from Caritas Austria 25-11-2008:

Joint Press Release: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNHCR

Kabul conference pledges support for sustainable return

KABUL, Afghanistan, November 19 - The Afghan government and the UN refugee agency today pledged to strengthen efforts for returnees and displaced people within the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. “The story of Afghanistan’s return process marks one of the largest and most successful voluntary repatriation programmes in recent decades,” said Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta at the opening of the International Conference on Return and Reintegration of Afghan Refugees on Wednesday in Kabul.

“Return, alone, does not mean success. It must be followed by successful reintegration, enabled by conditions conducive for social and economic wellbeing of refugees,” he added. “Greater efforts are needed to ensure returnees with basic services, such as access to land, water, shelter, general education, health care and electricity. In addition, the importance of facilitating jobs opportunities so that returnees become self-sufficient cannot be overstated.”

More than 5 million Afghan refugees - 20 percent of Afghanistan’s population - have returned home since 2002. The large majority have gone back to their areas of origin, but recent returnees are facing more difficulties as the country’s absorption capacity reaches its current limits. Some - including 30,000 returnees now living under tents in the eastern region - are unable to return to their villages due to insecurity, a lack of land, shelter, basic services or job opportunities. These challenges have been compounded by a food crisis and severe drought, forcing thousands of desperate families to leave their homes for other districts, even for neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

The conference co-chair, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, joined the Afghan government in thanking Iran and Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan refugees in the last 30 years. “We will continue to work closely with our counterparts in the three countries to ensure that return takes place in safety and dignity,” he said. “The right to choose freely, in an informed manner, is the best and most practical guarantee of sustainable return. After all, transforming settled refugees in one country into displaced persons in their homeland is surely in no one’s interest.”

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