UNHCR AND THE AFGHAN EXODUS

BY SYEDA BEENISH HASAN*

The end of Cold War polarization resulted in countless internal conflicts. Conflicts in earlier days were as deadly and destructive as they are now, but their patterns were simple. Today, both war and peace have changed. There may be only one super power left in the world, but internal conflicts have multiplied. These conflicts are often extremely violent and tend to target civilian populations as much as they involve armed groups. The reality is that decades after the holocaust, violence persecution continue to force hundreds of thousands of people every year to become refugees, or to flee to safer areas of their own countries. Likewise, the mechanisms of traditional conflict resolution are inadequate to address the root cause of these problems because today graver the conflict, the more dramatic are the humanitarian tragedies that occurred. Humanitarian work, as we think of it today, has its origin in a simple, but powerful idea –saving the lives of innocent civilians threatened by persecution or violence.

The humanitarian intervention of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in every single case is based on this above criteria. But the question is whether it is playing an accurate role in solving refugee problems?  Let's look into the role UNHCR in Afghan exoduses- third ranked in world refugee problem, in order to sort out the answer of the question.

Once Boutros Boutros Ghali said, "That refugees and other uprooted people are the product of failure to resolve conflicts and prevalent intolerance, antagonism and poverty in a given society". If we look into the case of Afghan refugees, it proves to be very true. The migration of Afghan people is not only the product of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but also due to internal chaos and instability. The Soviet invasion was the turning point as the war broke out in Afghanistan and conditions became so bitter that thousands of Afghans flew to Pakistan. Pakistan in spite of being under developed welcomed the Afghan refugees and tried to help them as much as possible. Twenty years after the Soviet invasion and twelve years after the withdrawal of Soviet Union in1989, Afghanistan is still a country in which an armed conflict over power between opposing political factions continues. Afghanistan has in the process been devastated, producing the world' largest ever single Diaspora, at times as high as 6.2 million persons. Actually fighting and insecurity in various areas of Afghanistan continued to deter many Afghan refugees from voluntary repatriation. In 1994, approximately 77,000 returned with UNHCR's assistance and 76,000 on their own.

While a bitter struggle over power between the various Mujahedeen groups' continues, ensued-refugees have been returning in large number, mainly to safe rural areas of Afghanistan. In 1998, UNHCR assisted about 107,000 refugees to Afghanistan, whom 93, 000 returned from Pakistan. These repatriations showed that despite the hardships facing the Afghan population in general & returnees in particular voluntary repatriations remain the most realistic solution for majority of refugees in the asylum country. While the above mentioned figures is probably the largest ever repatriation of a single group, more than 2.6 million refugees still live in exile, giving the Afghans also the unfortunate distinction of remaining the largest single group in the world, for the 19^th year in succession. According to statistical data in late 1997,UNHCR instituted a new strategy as targeted group repatriation, from Pakistan, which runs parallel to the continuing standard repatriation assistance (transportation assistance, grants of cash and wheat) for individual families returning home to Afghanistan.

The new scheme involves identifying refugee groups in Pakistan (sometimes from a single village, sometimes an entire district) who are keen to return home to relatively peaceful areas, but who are prevented from doing so by specific obstacles such as mines, destroyed houses, lack of irrigation systems and employment opportunities. In 1998, UNHCR launched a new returnee monitoring system that aims to evaluate systematically the situation of returnees inside.

Afghanistan by means of interviews with heads of returnee families. The monitoring surveys now form the basis for UNHCR's interventions – both to protect returnees and their human rights, and to assist them during the initial reintegration phase. Although refugees have continued to return to the more stable central and eastern provinces of Afghanistan, but UNHCR's re-integration program has been hampered by a severe and persistent drought and the Taliban's restrictions on the employment of women by UN agencies.

The main challenge is how to render return sustainable. Because of the drought, income-generating opportunities are at best limited for those returnees who own land, and almost non-existent for those not engaged in agriculture. This situation has been further compounded by the aforementioned drought, which has affected most areas of Afghanistan. Rain-fed crops have failed almost everywhere and owners of livestock have experienced great losses. Criminality is on the increase, as is the illicit drug production that has helped finance the war for most of the past decade. Furthermore, the population has to contend with an almost complete lack of basic services. Health care and education are extremely limited or non-existent. Infrastructure (electricity, water, transport, communications) is unreliable or non-existent.

Although conditions for return are less than ideal, UNHCR believes that refugees who make an informed decision to return to Afghanistan should be helped to do so. The socio-economic and political situation for refugees in the countries of asylum is worsening and after twenty  years of hospitality, host governments are calling for a resolution to the refugee situation in their country. By helping refugees return and designing reintegration projects aimed at addressing the most pressing needs in return communities, UNHCR help to alleviate the burden on neighboring countries while at the same time providing a viable solution for the refugees. Through increased dialogue with the authorities, UNHCR hopes that agreement can be reached on the implementation of a range of activities, which have become increasingly problematic.

That means access for women to employment and health services, and access for girls to education. Similarly, support of small-scale businesses (through micro-credits for both men and women) is expected to alleviate poverty and stimulate local markets.

Conclusion

  The efforts which I have mentioned  - exceptional as they may have been – indicate in a dramatic manner that humanitarian action alone cannot resolve fundamental social, economic and political problems. Like all of us, we hope that in due course from the turmoil of this transition period a more effective approach will arise, resulting in the establishment of reliable mechanisms that can bring a measure of stability. The crux of the matter, however, is that such processes are eminently political: humanitarian response can cure the symptoms of conflicts, but can not remove the root causes.    

 * Student, B.A (Hons) IIIrd Year, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.