AFGHANISTAN-WORLD REFUGEE DAY Afghan returnees demand shelter as the U.N. marks World Refugee Day

Record ID: 274399

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN-WORLD REFUGEE DAY Afghan returnees demand shelter as the U.N. marks World Refugee Day
  • Date: 20th June 2013
  • Summary: RESENDING WITH FULL SHOTLIST AND SCRIPT Afghan returnees and internally displaced residents demand shelter and jobs, as the United Nations marks World Refugee Day. SHOWS: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (JUNE 20, 2013) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. CAMP WHERE AFGHAN RETURNEES AND THE INTERNALLY DISPLACED LIVE 2. CHILDREN OUTSIDE MUD HOUSES IN CAMP 3. AFGHAN RETURNEE OUTSIDE MUD
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Afghanistan
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACZ40TGGS4M6483IDGHRBZH0R
  • Story Text: As the United Nations marked World Refugee Day on Thursday (June 20), refugees who have returned to Afghanistan and those who have been internally displaced called on Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to provide them with shelter and jobs.
    "When Karzai announced four years ago that he would provide shelter for returnees within six months, we returned with our refugee card and national card. I have been living in this tent for the past four years. Last year 18 people died here due to the harsh winter and in the past four years 40-45 people have died due to the cold. Karzai is not listening to us," said one Afghan returnee Mohammad Ibrahim, who has come back from Pakistan.
    The bitter cold of the Afghan weather last year contributed to a rising number of deaths particularly among children, in urban slums across the country where vulnerable displaced Afghans struggle to survive, aid agencies said.
    "Our main problem is shelter, we urgently need shelter to move away from here. We live in water during the winter," said Rahmatullah Jan, who was displaced in the war.
    More than 5.7 million Afghans have returned home in the last decade following the U.S.-led invasion and they constitute nearly a quarter of the population, the UNHCR said last year.
    But fewer than 70,000 went back in 2011, against 112,600 in 2010, it said. Afghans also constituted the large number of asylum seekers in the West in 2011, lodging 35,700 requests.
    And even fewer went back this year, the UNHCR said.
    "What we are seeing today that numbers today are lower than number of returnees last year, so that I think is also an indication that people obviously are concerned about what is happening," said Bo Sechack UNHCR representative in Afghanistan.
    Attacks by militants, and air strikes and operations by international and Afghan forces, have uprooted more than half a million people from their homes over the past decade, forcing them to seek refuge in slums in the capital, Kabul, and other cities such as Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, where they are exposed to disease, hunger and poverty.
    Scores of illegal settlements have sprung up, largely ignored by the authorities, who have no policy on dealing with the internally displaced and have been unable to resettle them, partly because of the continuing violence in the impoverished country.
    "What we are seeing here may be one of the biggest challenges today, is the very large number of Afghans who are living in an urban environment, who for many reasons have decided that they, it's better for them to live close to cities and this is a new situation and a new challenges that certainly needs very significant attention by all," Sechack said.
    A report by the UNCHR showed that Afghanistan remains the world's top producer of refugees, a position it has held for 32 years. On an average, one out of every four refugees worldwide is Afghan, with 95 percent in Pakistan or Iran.


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