ReliefWeb

Highlights

• 999 undocumented Afghans returned from Pakistan
• 20,782 undocumented Afghans returned from Iran
• 8,980 total returns from Pakistan since 01 Jan 2018
• 184,686 total returns from Iran since 01 Jan 2018 - 94% of returnees from Pakistan (938 individuals) assisted
• 4% of returnees from Iran (775 individuals) assisted
• 103 Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMC) from Iran among those assisted, 0 from Pakistan
• 37 Medical Cases (MC) from Iran among those assisted, 0 from Pakistan

Return from Pakistan

A total of 999 undocumented Afghans spontaneously returned or were deported from Pakistan through the Turkham (Nangarhar) and Spin Boldak (Kandahar) border crossings from 08—14 April 2018, according to the Border Monitoring Team of the Directorate of Refugees and Repatriation (DoRR). Of the total returnees, 970 were spontaneous returnees and 29 were deported. This number marks a 0.4% decrease compared to the previous week (1,003). The total number of undocumented Afghan returnees from Pakistan since 01 January 2018 is now 8,980. IOM provided post-arrival assistance to 94% of undocumented Afghan returnees from Pakistan (938 individuals), including 674 individuals in poor families, 244 individuals in single parent families and 20 Special Cases. The assistance provided includes meals, accommodation, basic medical screening, Non-Food Items (NFIs), onward transportation cash grants and referral services, as well as support from partners.

Situation Overview

IOM is responding to a substantial increase in the return of undocumented Afghans from Pakistan and Iran. Since 01 January 2018, over 193,000 undocumented Afghans have returned due to diverse push factors, including deteriorating protection space in Iran and Pakistan. Most of those returning have lived outside of Afghanistan for decades, and will need support from the government and humanitarian actors both on arrival and as they seek to reintegrate. As the rate of return is influenced by a number of political, security and other related factors both in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, another surge in returns could occur at any time.
The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan together with UN counterparts have now extended Proof of Registration cards for 1.4m Afghan refugees in Pakistan to 30 June 2018 and have begun the issuance of Afghan Citizenship Cards on 16 February for more than 878,000 undocumented Afghans. IOM is working to scale up its support to returnees in coordination with the Government of Afghanistan and other humanitarian partners in line with the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). To date, 320.000 Afghans have received their ACC cards.