Speakers at a roundtable conference on Wednesday urged to develop a comprehensive and durable solution to the protracted issue of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The conference was jointly organised by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Country representative of UNCHR in Pakistan, Mengesha Kebede, said that the challenge is not the repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, but to absorb them in the home country, as most of these refugees return even after repatriation. He said that the government of Pakistan needs to set up an effective border monitoring mechanism with Afghanistan and a new regulation to deal with returning repatriates. Afghanistan also needs an effective strategy to absorb repatriates, as a staggering 40 per cent of its population consists of people who have been granted status of refugees, he added.
The UNHCR representative proposed the Pakistan government to develop a system of local integration for the Afghan population. “The government need not give them citizenship or permanent settlement, but should provide them visas to work or study temporarily,” he said. Kebede said that discussions with the federal and provincial governments to develop a strategy for working groups, students and those living under any legal binding are underway. However, the repatriation process will continue, he added.
The speakers discussed the 1951 Refugees Convention and expressed their desire to promote accession to the convention as well as for Pakistan to adopt its national legislation on refugees. The convention is the key legal document that would help the government of Pakistan to deal with issues related to asylum in a structured manner and enable it to enact its own national law of asylum, the speakers added.
UNHCR representatives said that with support from the government of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the international community, a successful implementation of this strategy will help resolve the situation of the refugees by offering them alternative options and paving the way for lasting solutions.
A senior official from SAFRON highlighted that most of the skilled and unskilled workers in Afghanistan are Pakistanis, adding that majority of the businessmen in Kabul are also Pakistanis, who are particularly from the non-Pushtoon areas.
He stressed the need to develop a permanent regulation regarding the migrants of both countries.
Also present on the occasion, former ambassadors, judges, human rights activists, academics and journalists belonging to the Eminent Persons Group, welcomed government’s initiative for addressing the issues of Afghan refugees. They offered to provide advisory services to institutions in finding durable solution to deal with the problem.
The federal cabinet in March last year approved a strategy on the management and repatriation of Afghans in Pakistan. The strategy examined optional legal stay for the registered Afghans, while simultaneously dealing with undocumented migrants.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2011.
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