UNCHR to Help Afghan Refugees Return Home from Pakistan

The return of refugees is a totally voluntary process as Voluntary Repatriation Centers in Pakistan will help Afghan refugees to return home. The centers are expected to remain open throughout the year.

There are nearly 1.7 Afghan refugees in Pakistan around a million of them without legal refugee documents.

Afghan refugees constitute the largest and longest-standing refugee situation in UNCHR's history as millions of Afghans living both in Pakistan and Iran and possible further without any legal document.

In 2011, almost 70,000 Afghan refugees returned home while UNCHR has a plan to implement a new solution strategy aimed to support repatriation of 1.7 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Despite massive return of Afghan refugees back to the country since 2001, Afghanistan still tops the list of countries with high number of refugees outside their borders.

"The interesting point is Afghanistan still tops the list of countries with high number of refugees after ten years of return." Mohammad Nader Farhad, UNCHR spokesman in Kabul said.

According to reports, Iraq, Somali, Sudan and Republic of Congo hold the first, second, third and fifth positions after Afghanistan respectively.