Pakistan, UNHCR Sign Agreement on Screening of Afghan RefugeesThe Government of Pakistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Thursday signed a landmark agreement under which a joint screening process for Afghans entering Pakistan will be established.The Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) quoted a UNHCR representative in Pakistan as saying "it is a major breakthrough and a significant step forward which will ensure the proper protection of all those Afghans who deserve it." Under the agreement, the Afghans who fled conflict and drought in Afghanistan and were found to be in need of protection and assistance will be allowed to timely stay in Pakistan, while those opting to return home will receive a voluntary repatriation grant. 30 joint teams will be set up to launch the screening of the Afghans in Jalozai and Nasir Bagh refugee camps in Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). Within three weeks, another 25 teams will join hand to cover the New Shamshatoo refugee camp, said the APP report. The representative also informed that an information campaign targeting the residents of Jalozai and Nasir Bagh would start immediately, to be followed by a data gathering exercise which is expected to last for twenty days. The agreement would allow UNHCR to strengthen the protection it provides to Afghan refugees in Pakistan and to better assist Afghan refugees while also ensuring that humanitarian crises like that of the makeshift Jalozai site, are avoided, said the report. Pakistan is estimated to host two million Afghan refugees with some 180,000 Afghans residing in the above-mentioned three refugee camps. |
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