Return of Undocumented Afghans - Weekly Situation Report (1 - 5 January 2019)
- Countries
- Afghanistan
- + 2 more
- Sources
- IOM
- Publication date
- Origin
- View original
Highlights
- 805,850 total returns from Iran and Pakistan between 01 Jan—31 Dec 2018
- 773,125 total returns from Iran between 01 Jan—31 Dec 2018
- 32,725 total returns from Pakistan between 01 Jan—31 Dec 2018
- 5,721 undocumented Afghans returned from Iran between 01 – 05 Jan 2019
- 425 undocumented Afghans returned from Pakistan between 01 – 05 Jan 2019
- 4% of returnees from Iran (226 individuals) assisted
- 84% of returnees from Pakistan (357 individuals) assisted
Situation Overview
Since 01 January 2018, IOM is responding to the return of over 800,000 undocumented Afghans from Pakistan and Iran. Undocumented returns from Iran in particular are seeing a massive increase of more than 200,000 to over 460,000 total between January-July 2018 versus 187,000 during the same time period in 2017, largely driven by recent political and economic issues in Iran including massive currency devaluation. As Afghans primarily work in the informal economy in Iran the demand for this type of work is drastically reduced. Further as all Afghans typically send home their earnings in the form of monthly remittances, the Afghan economy itself, already evident in the drought affected provinces of Herat, Badghis and Ghor, is suffering direct and immediate effects.