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South and Central Asia: 1.8 Million Afghans Return Home, But International Community Fails to Deliver Promised Aid, Security
Washington, D.C. May 29, 2003 More than 1.8 million refugees repatriated to Afghanistan in 2002, nearly double the number anticipated. But according to the World Refugee Survey 2003, an authoritative annual report published today by the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR), the international community failed to deliver two essential elements of post-war reconstruction and sustainable refugee reintegration: security beyond Kabul and sufficient reconstruction assistance.
The Afghan repatriation constituted the largest and most rapid, UN-assisted refugee return movement that the world has witnessed in three decades. While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was proud and supportive of its undeniable achievement, at year's end, the agency expressed concern about “the capacity of the war-torn country to absorb the sudden influx of millions of people.” UNHCR noted that “substantive reconstruction aid for infrastructure repair and employment is still urgently needed if returns are to be sustainable.”
"Afghan refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons, and other Afghans struggled to survive amidst epic changes over the course of the year," said USCR Policy Analyst Michael Scott. The year 2002 saw the defeat of the Taliban regime by U.S.-led coalition forces, which had intervened militarily in Afghanistan at the end of 2001, the pursuit of remnant al-Qaeda fighters, the launching of a tentative process of nation-building in Kabul, and the establishment of a new, internationally-supported government—all against a backdrop of decades of ravages of war and years of human rights violations, devastating drought, and environmental degradation.
Many returnees reportedly found conditions in Afghanistan so difficult—tens of thousands wound up in camps for internally displaced people—that they expressed regret about having repatriated from Pakistan and Iran. According to Pakistani officials, however, as many as 300,000 returnees reportedly made their way back to Pakistan either for the winter or to stay.
Despite the large-scale repatriation, UNHCR reported that at the end of 2002 some 4 million Afghans remained outside their country—an estimated 2 million refugees in Iran and 1.5 million in Pakistan (including 50,000 newly arrived in 2002). In addition, some 700,000 Afghans were internally displaced throughout the country at year's end.
Elsewhere in South Asia, India suffered its worst communal violence in more than a decade. More than 2,000 people died and as many as 100,000 Indian Muslims were forcibly displaced from their homes in the northwest state of Gujarat. Despite strong international concern for the safety and well-being of displaced persons in India, the Indian government refused to solicit or accept international assistance of the international community.
Clashes between Indian and Pakistani forces along the Line of Control in Kashmir and attacks by Muslim separatists displaced large numbers of people in both Pakistani- and Indian-controlled areas of the disputed region. Many of the displaced were unable to return home by year's end.
In Sri Lanka, peace talks in which Tamil rebels agreed to accept regional autonomy rather than a separate state raised hopes for an end to the conflict. Nevertheless, at year’s end, UNHCR said that conditions in Sri Lanka were not yet conducive for a large-scale, organized return of refugees or internally displaced persons.
The World Refugee Survey 2003 contains reports on refugee situations in 12 South and Central Asian countries. The 258-page annual report reviews refugee conditions and government policies affecting refugees and displaced persons in 134 countries worldwide.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) is a public information and advocacy program of Immigration and Refugee Services of America (IRSA), a nongovernmental, non-profit organization. Since 1958, USCR has defended the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons worldwide.