The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Tuesday that this April witnessed the return of more than 251,000 Afghan refugees to their country from Iran and Pakistan, including more than 96,000 refugees who were forcibly deported in conditions described as “difficult”.
The Commission renewed its warning against the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, at a time when tens of thousands of Afghans are forced to return from neighboring countries.
She called for an urgent saving of 71 million dollars to provide humanitarian assistance to those who arrive in the country in “tragic” situations.
The Commission also renewed its invitation to the government of Iran and Pakistan to “ensure that the return to Afghanistan is voluntary, safe and generous,” and warned that forced deportation may lead to destabilization in the region.
The Commission considered that women and girls face severe risks, and also warned that the situation would exacerbate the crisis due to poverty, unemployment, the effect of climate changes and natural disasters.
The Commission indicated that since 2023, more than 3.4 million Afghan has been departed from Iran and Pakistan, including more than 1.5 million in 2024 alone, which has burdened the shoulders of many Afghan states and raised the risk of internal displacement and attempts to migrate to Europe.
The Pakistani Interior announced, in early March, that it would cancel the permits of the residence of Afghan refugees as part of the second stage of a plan that was expelled in its first stage about 800,000 irregular Afghan people in the country.
According to the Refugee Commission, the number of Afghan refugees registered in Pakistan is 1.33 million, in addition to about 600,000 others who resorted to Islamabad after the Taliban took control of the ruling in August 2021, and Pakistan did not allow the United Nations to register them, and then their residency in it is illegal and may face arrest, prison and deportation.
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