Afghan Refugees’ Voluntary Repatriation Resumes

At least 194 families of registered Afghan refugees left for Afghanistan on Monday as voluntary repatriation of the refugees resumed after a gap of four months. The repatriated refugees were those who had registered themselves at the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The UNHCR officials said that earlier the UNHCR paid 400 USD to each person of a repatriating Afghan refugee family, but the financial assistance had now been reduced to 200 USD per person. They said the decision to cut cash grant had been taken following reduction in financial aids from donor agencies. Meanwhile Afghan government pays 3500 Afs to each person of unregistered repatriating refugee family but Afghan refugees say that the amount is event not sufficient for them to pay the car rent.