Working environment
For nearly four decades, Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees with 1.3 million of them still remaining in the country. In the course of 2016, protection space was challenged significantly by heightened security and the evolving regional political environment. In this context, there was a sudden surge of return of Afghan refugees and undocumented Afghans during the second part of the year. The implementation of the National Action Plan, the country’s anti-terrorism measures, enhanced border control measures and proactive call by the Afghan government for refugees to return played a role in refugees’ decision making. There were also reports of harassments towards Afghans despite the effort by the government to raise awareness on the protection of refugees. By the end of the year, over 370,000 refugees were deregistered for repatriation and received cash grants upon arrival in Afghanistan.
In the meantime, the government continues to implement its plan for solutions for internally displaced people (IDPs) with progressive “denotification” of conflict-affected areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), allowing IDPs to return.
Population trends
- 370,000 Afghan refugees, with Proof of Registration (PoR) cards repatriated to Afghanistan in 2016.
- 1,397,000 Afghan refugees PoR card holders remained in Pakistan as of end 2016.
- 704,000 IDPs returned to their places of origin, bringing the remaining IDP population down to 449,000 at the end of 2016.
Achievements and impact
- UNHCR provided assistance to returning refugees through two voluntary repatriation centres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Balochistan.
- A total of 174,000 children under the age of 5 were registered, twice as many when compared to 2015, and 113,000 birth certificates were issued, more than twice as many compared to 2015
- More than 46,000 refugees were assisted through ten Advice and Legal Aid Centers (ALAC), with UNHCR and its partners helping release 99.6 per cent of the people of concern who were arrested and/or detained.
- Primary education was provided to over 53,000 Afghan refugee children in 54 refugee villages through 275 public schools or education centers.
- Close to 170,000 Pakistanis and 66,000 Afghan refugees had access to quality healthcare facilities.
Unmet needs
- An estimated 20,000 to 40,000 refugee children could not access education.
- Additional investments are needed to ensure greater sustainability of community-based health services.
- The legal aid programme for refugees could have been implemented more effectively with additional ALACs.