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Afghan refugees melt into social fabric of Pakistan: UN official
by Yangtze Yan
ISLAMABAD, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Afghan refugees have become a part of the social and economic fabric of Pakistan, a representative of the UN refugee agency UNHCR said Sunday.
On the eve of the World Refugee Day, UNHCR Deputy Representative in Pakistan Kilian Kleinschmidt said over the past 30 years, Pakistan has provided the best protection to the Afghans coming from the heavily-battled neighboring country.
"I can proudly say that together with Pakistan, the refugee protection here has been in some cases much better than many other countries where the 1951 UN refugee convention has been signed, which is an achievement of partnership and friendship and compassion for refugees," said Kleinschmidt.
More than 3.6 million fleeing Afghans have returned from Pakistan during the past 10 years, he said, however there are still 1.7 million registered Afghans in the country where itself has an internal displacement of millions due to militancy and natural disasters.
He said the killing of Osama bin Laden has nothing to do with the refugee situation in Pakistan, explaining that the third and fourth generation of Afghans have established their lives in Pakistan so what they care about are education, health, jobs, livelihood and business.
Kleinschmidt, a German who has worked in Pakistan for five years observed that the Afghans have melted into the communities in Pakistan but he declined to say that they are integrated into them, referring that they are quite often unfortunately found on the lower-end of the economy being garbage pickers or day laborers.
He said the UN refugee agency and the government of Pakistan are making constructive efforts in protecting refugee women, mainstreaming healthcare and education services and issuing birth certificates, identity cards, work permits, student visas or even citizenship, in which they are moving towards the real solution that empowers refugees with rights and obligations instead of sending them home or resettling them in a third country.
"First people wouldn't take the cards because they cannot eat, but today people are extremely keen on obtaining that card, because now they know what it gives is rights, dignity and the recognition that you are not just some figures in the UNHCR statistics but you are individual human beings with your family and with your problems," said Kleinschmidt.
He said the World Refugee Day culture events on June 20 is to bring together the Afghans, Somalis and Iraqis in Pakistan to make a difference in respecting them as individuals and rebuilding their hope.
"The refugees have their own culture and they have brought their culture and experience to Pakistan. They have skills, they have happiness and they are singing so we are bringing them together," he said.
Talking about the long-term vision, Kleinschmidt said most of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan, besides widowed women under additional protect, will have either work permits or education visas by the end of 2012.
"We would like to have in 2015 a smaller yield of office in Pakistan, we would like to see us doing fund-raising with the government of Pakistan to help refugees elsewhere in the world whilst the government will be doing its job in protecting refugees, " he said.
by Yangtze Yan
ISLAMABAD, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Afghan refugees have become a part of the social and economic fabric of Pakistan, a representative of the UN refugee agency UNHCR said Sunday.
On the eve of the World Refugee Day, UNHCR Deputy Representative in Pakistan Kilian Kleinschmidt said over the past 30 years, Pakistan has provided the best protection to the Afghans coming from the heavily-battled neighboring country.
"I can proudly say that together with Pakistan, the refugee protection here has been in some cases much better than many other countries where the 1951 UN refugee convention has been signed, which is an achievement of partnership and friendship and compassion for refugees," said Kleinschmidt.
More than 3.6 million fleeing Afghans have returned from Pakistan during the past 10 years, he said, however there are still 1.7 million registered Afghans in the country where itself has an internal displacement of millions due to militancy and natural disasters.
He said the killing of Osama bin Laden has nothing to do with the refugee situation in Pakistan, explaining that the third and fourth generation of Afghans have established their lives in Pakistan so what they care about are education, health, jobs, livelihood and business.
Kleinschmidt, a German who has worked in Pakistan for five years observed that the Afghans have melted into the communities in Pakistan but he declined to say that they are integrated into them, referring that they are quite often unfortunately found on the lower-end of the economy being garbage pickers or day laborers.
He said the UN refugee agency and the government of Pakistan are making constructive efforts in protecting refugee women, mainstreaming healthcare and education services and issuing birth certificates, identity cards, work permits, student visas or even citizenship, in which they are moving towards the real solution that empowers refugees with rights and obligations instead of sending them home or resettling them in a third country.
"First people wouldn't take the cards because they cannot eat, but today people are extremely keen on obtaining that card, because now they know what it gives is rights, dignity and the recognition that you are not just some figures in the UNHCR statistics but you are individual human beings with your family and with your problems," said Kleinschmidt.
He said the World Refugee Day culture events on June 20 is to bring together the Afghans, Somalis and Iraqis in Pakistan to make a difference in respecting them as individuals and rebuilding their hope.
"The refugees have their own culture and they have brought their culture and experience to Pakistan. They have skills, they have happiness and they are singing so we are bringing them together," he said.
Talking about the long-term vision, Kleinschmidt said most of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan, besides widowed women under additional protect, will have either work permits or education visas by the end of 2012.
"We would like to have in 2015 a smaller yield of office in Pakistan, we would like to see us doing fund-raising with the government of Pakistan to help refugees elsewhere in the world whilst the government will be doing its job in protecting refugees, " he said.
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