ISLAMABAD: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has revealed that nearly 110,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Pakistan are in urgent need of international protection.
According to the agency, most of them face risks and vulnerabilities that make their resettlement to third countries inevitable. According to the latest UNHCR factsheet, at least eight percent of these people are refugees who have Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, but they still face serious risks. The agency said that the UN resettlement program in Pakistan has been running since the 1980s, and so far more than 20,000 vulnerable refugees have been resettled in safe countries so that they can start a new life.
Following the uncertainty that arose in Afghanistan in 2021, the international community has shown renewed interest in the resettlement of Afghan refugees. This resulted in a significant increase in the resettlement quota for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. According to the data, the United States provided the largest number of Afghan refugees, where 10,823 people were resettled. This was followed by countries like Australia (4,362), Canada (2,253), the United Kingdom (954), New Zealand (817), Norway (248), Sweden (182), Finland (116), and Italy (72). The UNHCR has appealed to the international community to find durable solutions for these vulnerable and
Meanwhile, according to the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), over 300,000 Afghan citizens have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran or been forcibly expelled in the past month.
Furthermore, UNHCR has also clarified that since 2021, several foreign diplomatic missions in Pakistan have launched “safe passage programs” to evacuate their former local staff and other relevant personnel from Afghanistan, but these programs are not part of the formal UN resettlement plan.
UNHCR and other agencies are urging the international community to take serious note of the risks faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan and play a role in providing them with protection, settlement and a dignified future.
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