The government plans to conduct a study to determine the Afghan refugees’ contribution to Pakistan’s economy, including such details as the quantum of their cross-border trade and remittances.
This will be part of a strategy crafted in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to come to grips with the millions of Afghan refugees staying in the country.
Under the plan, the government is to form a legal framework and conduct a survey, covering 80 to 90 per cent of Afghan households.
The government and UNHCR have devised a two-year window of opportunity to help the Afghan refugees identify a durable solution to their present situation by underlining three principal pillars.
“The implementation of this new strategy would help resolve this protracted refugee situation by offering alternative options and paving the way for a lasting solution,” said a UN official. The new strategy consists of three pillars. The first pillar consists of evidence-based decision-making in which comprehensive data will be compiled through the survey of households.
“The survey is going to be detail-oriented,” said the official. “We are going to identify specific needs of individuals, families and communities.”
A study will also be conducted throughout the year to determine the Afghan contribution to Pakistan’s economy.
The second pillar consists of the legal framework. The government is to form a legal framework, including the accession of the 1951 convention. The convention is a legal document that would enable the government to enact its own asylum law. The government has also established an inter-ministerial committee to review issues related to accession to the refugee convention and the 1967 protocol. The UNHCR will also attend sessions for the parliamentary standing committees for law, interior and foreign affairs for accession.
Pillar three constitutes the operational framework which will provide the overall framework to operationalise the initiatives of the strategy. Social activists, media personalities, lawyers and judges would be engaged. “Giving them time extensions is not the solution. There are several Afghans who were born and brought up in Pakistan. This is the time to plan to organise ourselves for better management,” said the official.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2011.
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