UNHCR - News

Exiled from Pakistan, destitute Afghans return to a country at war

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans, banished from Pakistan, find destruction, violence and hardship in their homeland

▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/oct/06/exiled-pakistan-destitute-afghanistan-war?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Afghan displaced crisis may be larger than expected, U.N. says

A wave of internally displaced people in Afghanistan and returning refugees in need of aid may be even bigger than previously feared, U.N. officials warned on Thursday as they called for more money and attention for the growing crisis.

▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-refugees-idUSKCN12K1I0?il=0

Afghanistan Itself Is Now Taking In the Most Afghan Migrants

SAMARKHEL, Afghanistan — There is one country in the world that is now taking in more Afghan migrants than all the countries in Europe and South Asia put together this year.

▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/world/asia/afghanistan-migrants.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur

Pakistan : Expulsions massives de réfugiés afghans

L’agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés s’est rendue complice des mesures coercitives employées par le gouvernement

▻https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2017/02/13/pakistan-expulsions-massives-de-refugies-afghans

U.N. Refugee Agency Must Break Its Silence on Pakistan

The UNHCR’s offer of cash to returning Afghan refugees makes it complicit in the coercion of people it is mandated to protect, says Human Rights Watch’s Gerry Simpson, author of a new report on Pakistani forced returns. He argues the U.N. agency has crossed a red line.

▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2017/02/14/u-n-refugee-agency-must-break-its-silence-on-pakistan

UN under fire even as Pakistan lifts Afghan deportation order

Pakistan has backed off threats to deport more than two million Afghans starting next month, but the refugees are still under intense pressure to leave and the UN is accused of complicity in alleged plans to coerce them back across the border into a war zone.

▻https://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/02/13/un-under-fire-even-pakistan-lifts-afghan-deportation-order

Afghan refugees return home amid Pakistan crackdown

More than 600,000 Afghans repatriated last year amid reports of abuse by Pakistani authorities following border tension.

▻http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/02/afghan-refugees-return-home-pakistan-crackdown-170225103737546.html

Amid Mass Returns, a Teacher’s Hopes for Refugee Girls in Afghanistan

As hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees return from Pakistan, we speak to Aqeela Asifi, a prize-winning educator of refugee girls in the country’s Punjab province, about how the mass returns will impact girls’ education and thus the future of Afghanistan.

https://newsdeeply.imgix.net/20170306142509/Afghan-refugees-in-Pakistan-return-to-their-country.jpg?w=640&fit=max&q=60&dpr=2

▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2017/03/09/amid-mass-returns-a-teachers-hopes-for-refugee-girls-in-afghanistan
#filles #femmes #éducation

Facing problems in Pakistan, Afghans return home in droves

For years, Afghans have fled the violence in their country, seeking asylum in Europe or elsewhere in the Middle East. But over the past year, about 600,000 Afghans have crossed the border back into Afghanistan, coming from Pakistan, Iran and Europe when they are denied asylum.

http://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/newshour/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/RTS11REY-1024x683.jpg

▻http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/facing-problems-pakistan-afghans-return-home-droves

One Million Afghan Refugees to Be Repatriated in 2017

The European Union (EU) has said that more Afghan asylum seekers are likely to be repatriated from the European countries this year.

▻http://www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/one-million-afghan-refugees-be-repatriated-2017

Pakistan resumes repatriation of Afghan refugees

Pakistan resumed the repatriation of Afghan refugees on Monday, sending nearly 1,200 people back across the heavily guarded northern Torkham border, an official at the United Nation’s refugee body said.

▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-refugees-idUSKBN1751PY

‘The Time to Go Home Has Come’: Afghans Return to Embattled Provinces

As more than 1 million Afghans return from Pakistan, alongside others coming back from Iran and Europe, Refugees Deeply’s senior editor Preethi Nallu tells the stories of families arriving in a country still embroiled in conflict.

▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2017/09/21/the-time-to-go-home-has-come-afghans-return-to-embattled-provinces

Afghans Returned from Pakistan Struggle on Kabul Career Ladder

As hundreds of thousands of Afghans return from neighboring countries, young graduates face discrimination, language barriers and a dearth of connections in a country many had never been to before, Valerie Plesch reports for Al-Fanar Media.

https://newsdeeply.imgix.net/20171208123812/AA_31082016_338844.jpg?w=640&fit=max&q=60&dpr=2#.jpg

Viaggio tra i rifugiati afghani respinti dal Pakistan

Fin dagli anni ‘70 gli afghani fuggiti dal proprio paese hanno cercato rifugio in Pakistan. Tuttavia la loro situazione negli ultimi anni è diventata critica. Utilizzati per esercitare pressioni politiche su Kabul, subiscono continue pressione per far ritorno nel loro paese. A queste poi si sono aggiunte minacce e violenze crescenti. Una strategia che ha funzionato, come ci racconta Giuliano Battiston: migliaia sono i rifugiati tornati nel loro paese dove all’assenza di casa e lavoro fa da contraltare la presenza della guerra

«A Peshawar avevo una mia bottega. Era piccola, ma andava bene. Vendevo zucchero, sale, olio, sapone. Non potevo lamentarmi. Ora eccomi qui, vendo meloni e angurie che compro da altri. Lo faccio da pochi giorni e non so per quanto ancora. Ma non mi basta per mandare avanti la famiglia».

Rabihullah ha 45 anni e 12 figli. Nato in Afghanistan, fuggito dalla guerra, ha trascorso gran parte della vita in Pakistan, ma pochi mesi fa è stato costretto a tornare. Lo incontriamo all’inizio di una via sterrata che si dipana verso i campi coltivati, all’incrocio con la strada principale che conduce fuori città dal centro di Jalalabad, capoluogo di Nangarhar, provincia orientale al confine con il Pakistan. Seduto sulla paglia, alle spalle decine e decine di meloni profumati, in testa uno zuccotto chiaro, Rabihullah indossa un semplice vestito bianco, rattoppato qua e là. «Sono nato nel distretto di Bati Kut, qui nel Nangarhar. Ci siamo trasferiti in Pakistan quando ero adolescente. Di preciso non saprei quando. Ricordo che il mio primo digiuno per il Ramadan l’ho fatto lì. Non stavamo male a Peshawar. Ma 3 mesi fa siamo dovuti tornare. I poliziotti pachistani prima hanno cominciato a chiederci i documenti, poi a picchiarci. Ci attaccavano perfino di notte. Entravano nelle nostre case all’una, alle due del mattino. Ci dicevano di andar via. Nel nostro quartiere, che era come un villaggio, eravamo tutti afghani. Ci attaccavano per questo».

La storia di Rabihullah è simile a quella di decine di migliaia di connazionali, costretti a rientrare in Afghanistan a causa delle politiche repressive del governo di Islamabad. Già nel 2015, Human Rights Watch denunciava «minacce ripetute, arresti frequenti, richieste regolari di mazzette, violenze occasionali da parte della polizia pachistana nei mesi successivi all’attacco alla scuola di Peshawar», l’attentato terroristico che il 16 dicembre 2014 ha provocato la morte di 145 persone, tra cui 134 bambini.

Anche se l’attentato è stato rivendicato dai Talebani pachistani, per le autorità i responsabili andavano cercati all’interno dell’ampia comunità di rifugiati afghani che, sin dalla fine degli anni Settanta, hanno trovato protezione dalla guerra sull’altro lato della Durand Line, in Pakistan. Quei rifugiati erano parte della più ampia diaspora che ha reso l’Afghanistan per molti anni, fino allo scoppio della guerra siriana, il primo Paese al mondo di provenienza per numero di rifugiati. Una diaspora ancora oggi numerosa.

Secondo i dati dell’ultimo rapporto dell’Alto Commissariato dell’Onu per i rifugiati (Unhcr), Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2017, nel mondo ci sono 2,6 milioni di rifugiati afghani, il 5% in più rispetto all’anno precedente. L’Afghanistan è il secondo paese di provenienza dei rifugiati dopo la Siria (6,3 milioni). La maggior parte vive in Pakistan (poco meno di 1,4 milioni) e in Iran (poco meno di 1 milione), ma i due Paesi ospitano anche un gran numero di emigrati privi di documenti, non registrati dalle Nazioni Unite (circa 1 milione in Pakistan, 1 milione e mezzo in Iran). «Nel corso degli ultimi 40 anni, dall’inizio della guerra in Afghanistan nel 1978, l’Iran e il Pakistan hanno ospitato il più alto numero di rifugiati afghani», ricorda la ricercatrice Jelena Bjelica, che incontriamo nell’ufficio di Kabul dell’Afghanistan Analysts Network, il più accreditato centro di ricerca del Paese.

Molti sono tornati. Dal 2001, dal Pakistan sono rientrati ben 3,9 milioni di rifugiati afghani. Quanti non lo hanno fatto sono diventati armi diplomatiche nelle mani del governo di Islamabad, il cui establishment militare è accusato di alimentare il conflitto per ragioni strategiche. «I rifugiati vengono usati per esercitare pressioni politiche su Kabul. La prassi di non estendere la validità dei documenti di registrazione è uno degli strumenti più comuni», nota Jelena Bjelica.

«Nel 2016 e in parte nel 2017, le autorità pachistane hanno esercitato molte pressioni sugli afghani affinché tornassero indietro» conferma il ricercatore indipendente Wali Mohammad Kandiwal, autore di diverse pubblicazioni sui processi migratori, che incontriamo a Jalalabad. Alle pressioni si sono aggiunte minacce e violenze crescenti, come testimoniato nel 2017 da un altro rapporto di Human Rights Watch. La strategia ha funzionato. Lo certificano i numeri. Tra gennaio 2016 e dicembre 2017, almeno 1,2 milioni di afghani sono rientrati dall’Iran e dal Pakistan. Nel 2017, 460.000 afghani senza documenti sono rientrati o sono stati deportati dall’Iran, 100.000 dal Pakistan e 7.000 da Paesi europei, a cui vanno aggiunti almeno altri 60.000 rifugiati registrati, tornati dal Pakistan. «Il loro è stato un vero dilemma: rimanere o tornare? Entrambe le opzioni erano rischiose. Chi è tornato, spesso non è convinto di aver fatto la scelta giusta», aggiunge Kandiwal.

Anche Rabihullah non ne è certo. «Il lavoro non c’è, la casa costa troppo, non parliamo della sicurezza: qui si combatte dovunque», spiega sconfortato mentre ci guida lungo i viottoli del quartiere in cui vive, nella periferia di Jalalabad. Dietro un cancello di metallo c’è casa sua. Un atrio di pochi metri quadrati, delimitato da alte mura. Sulla destra, un ripiano di legno con una bombola del gas e qualche stoviglia: «è la cucina». Appena sopra, un filo con dei panni stesi. Una porta blu spicca contro il marrone delle pareti di fango. «Come vedi, la casa è fatta di un’unica stanza». C’è un’unica finestra e, di fronte all’entrata, un letto di corde intrecciate con la base in legno, tipico di queste parti. Una scala in bambù raggiunge il tetto della stanza, dove sono stesi altri panni. «È tutto qui», dice guardandosi intorno e lamentando la scarsa assistenza del governo, inefficiente e corrotto. «Le risorse ci sono, ma vengono dirottate su progetti privati, sottratte, rubate», ci dice un funzionario della sede locale dell’Organizzazione internazionale per le migrazioni (Oim), che chiede l’anonimato.

Non si tratta soltanto di denaro. La risorsa più importante, qui, è la casa. Meglio ancora, la terra. Secondo il «Policy Framework on IDPs and Returnees» del governo, «l’assegnazione della terra sarà un contributo fondamentale nel successo di soluzione durature» per i rifugiati. Ma la realtà è diversa. «Il piano governativo è molto ambizioso, e i politici non fanno mai mancare promesse elettorali su questo tema. Ma l’assegnazione delle terre è uno dei processi più corrotti che ci siano», nota Jelena Bjelica, che sull’argomento ha scritto un articolo molto informato.

Lo conferma Wali Mohammad Kandiwal, che ci anticipa i risultati della sua ultima ricerca, promossa dal Feinstein International Center dell’Università statunitense di Tufts. Si intitola «Homeland, but no land for home. A Case Study of Refugees in Towns: Jalalabad» e l’autore la sintetizza così: «la terra è il problema principale soprattutto qui, nella provincia di Nangarhar. Il governo punta a far tornare gli emigrati, ma non riesce a soddisfarne i bisogni e le legittime richieste. La burocrazia e soprattutto la corruzione sull’assegnazione delle terre rendono l’intero sistema dell’accoglienza del tutto fallimentare».

Alla corruzione e all’inefficienza del governo si sommano altri ostacoli. Il primo è il costo della terra, il bene più ambito. Secondo i dati riportati dallo Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), l’organo di controllo che riferisce al Congresso degli Stati Uniti sui soldi pubblici spesi nel Paese centro-asiatico, dal 2001 il costo della terra è aumentato del 1.000%. Un aumento ancora più significativo si registra nella provincia di Nangarhar, a causa delle speculazioni legate al rientro dei profughi dal Pakistan, delle mafie locali, delle dispute sui terreni e del landgrabbing.

C’è poi il problema strutturale dell’enorme peso demografico, sociale ed economico delle migrazioni forzate. Secondo una recente ricerca coordinata dall’Oim, in 15 delle 34 province afghane con la maggiore mobilità transfrontaliera e interna, tra il 2012 e il 2017 più di 3,5 milioni di persone sono ritornate dall’estero o sono state costrette a lasciare la propria casa, per trasferirsi in altre zone del paese. Tra coloro che sono rientrati in patria, 1 milione e 355 mila provenivano dal Pakistan, 398 mila dall’Iran. Il 25% di tutti i returnees si sono stabiliti proprio nella provincia di Nangarhar, che ha registrato 499,194 nuovi arrivi – ufficiali – tra il 2012 e il 2017.

Tra questi c’è Hejrat, 33 anni, carnagione scura, occhi celesti e un sorriso rassicurante. «Siamo tornati nel giugno 2017. Era un periodo in cui tante famiglie decidevano di tornare indietro», racconta. «Sono nato in Pakistan, ma la mia famiglia è originaria del distretto di Rodat, non distante da Jalalabad». Hejrat ha vissuto a lungo in Pakistan, a Peshawar, prima di essere costretto a tornare: «per i pachistani, gli afghani sono un fastidio. Abbiamo sopportato a lungo, poi siamo partiti». Per farlo ha dovuto chiedere un prestito: «I miei genitori erano già tornati. Ho chiesto un prestito di 10.000 rupie pachistane (circa 70 euro, ndr), ho fatto i bagagli e sono partito. Eravamo 5 persone, tutta la mia famiglia. Al confine, l’Onu ci ha dato una tenda, 100 chili di farina e 3 coperte. Ora eccoci qui». Hejrat sostiene che l’assistenza ricevuta sia insufficiente. «Abbiamo bisogno di tutto: cibo, lavoro, soldi. Con i soldi potrei cominciare un’attività e restituire quel che devo. Ho ancora debiti da pagare in Pakistan».

Hejrat è tornato in Afghanistan nel giugno 2017, quando la morsa delle autorità pachistane cominciava ad allentarsi. «In quel periodo le autorità hanno prolungato la validità dei documenti degli afghani e il ministero afghano per i Rifugiati ha trovato un accordo con la controparte a Islamabad», ricorda Kandiwal. Nel 2018, la pressione è ulteriormente diminuita. Eppure, i rientri dal Pakistan continuano, così come gli abusi. Da gennaio a oggi, secondo l’Oim circa 23.000 afghani senza documenti sono tornati in Afghanistan dal Pakistan (mentre sono circa 510.000 quelli rientrati dall’Iran, a causa delle crescenti pressioni delle autorità iraniane e della svalutazione del rial). «Siamo tornati da 5 mesi», racconta Hakim, 25 anni. «Siamo stati costretti ad andarcene. I poliziotti ci picchiavano ogni giorno con i bastoni, ci perseguitavano, continuavano a crearci problemi. Quando hanno esagerato, abbiamo deciso di partire. Molta gente ha preso la nostra stessa decisione».

Hakim si considera afghano, ma è nato in Pakistan. «Sono nato vicino a Peshawar, nel campo (rifugiati, ndr) di Akora. Poi siamo finiti a vivere su Charsadda road, fuori dai campi, con altre famiglie afghane. La mia famiglia si è trasferita in Pakistan 35 anni fa a causa della guerra». La guerra continua ancora oggi, ma Hakim – pur non essendoci mai vissuto – è tornato nella patria dei genitori. «Non era più possibile vivere a Peshawar: troppi problemi».

Anche qui non mancano. «In Pakistan facevo il lavoratore a giornata, lo stesso provo a fare qui. Ma è più difficile. Ho provato ad andare a Kabul, ma non ho trovato niente. Vivo con mia madre e mio padre, con mia moglie e i miei 5 figli. In tutto, siamo 8 persone». Hakim ci mostra casa, una tenda di plastica marrone, fornita dal Norwegian Refugee Council. Il tetto è in lamiera, le pareti in plastica e tela. Sopra l’ingresso svetta una bandiera afghana. Sui lati, una stampella di fil di ferro sorregge un vassoio di metallo con qualche utensile. Un intricato giro di fili porta l’elettricità. «Ma va e viene». All’interno, diversi materassi, arrotolati per risparmiare spazio, un peluche spelacchiato e qualche pentola. La tenda si trova in un ampio parcheggio sterrato, per gran parte occupato da ferraglia e calcinacci. Dietro la tenda c’è un palazzo in costruzione, lasciato a metà. Accanto, un’altra tenda, più bassa e più piccola.

Qualche metro più in là, un orticello di due metri per due. Pomodori, melanzane e poco altro. Hakim vorrebbe tornare nel villaggio dei genitori, nel distretto di Bati Kut, ma non può: «lì c’è la guerra».

http://openmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Rabihullah-nellatrio-della-sua-casa-nella-periferia-di-Jalalabad.jpg http://openmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Hakim-25-anni-di-fronte-alla-tenda-in-cui-vive-con-la-sua-famiglia-di-8-persone-nella-periferia-di-Jalalabad.jpg

Returning Afghan refugees rebuild despite challenges

UNHCR and its partners are helping returnees to access basic services, land and jobs, but further international support is needed.

▻https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2018/11/5bfbd5094/returning-afghan-refugees-rebuild-despite-challenges.html

Coming home to conflict: Why Afghan returnees say they were better off as refugees

Life as an Afghan refugee in Pakistan was never easy for Halima Bibi. But living in her own country has been even harder.

Bibi, 60, is among more than 3.8 million refugee and undocumented Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan – by choice or by force – over the last five years. In 2016, after spending their entire lives as refugees, she and her three children were driven over the border on the back of a truck – one family among hundreds of thousands of Afghans pushed out of Pakistan that year in a refugee crackdown.

Today, she lives in a small brick house in Bela, a village hosting around 1,500 returnee families outside the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. None of her three children have jobs, and Bibi worries about her health: she hasn’t been able to find a clinic to treat complications from her leprosy.

“Life’s much more difficult here,” she said, sitting on the steps outside her concrete home, tears rolling down her wrinkled cheeks. “All of our extended family is in Pakistan and we struggle to survive.”

Bibi’s troubles are common among Afghans coming home to a country at war after decades away, but data showing how returnees are faring has been scarce. Now, new research tracking Afghan returnees is painting a clearer picture of what people like Bibi are going through as authorities and aid groups prepare for more returns.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-2.jpg?M3NCyVTg.if5SV7ZDDXwPAffqbRsg.Hg&itok=FwsV_kKF#.jpg

A study released in July by the World Bank and the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, found that most returnees are worse off financially than those who had stayed behind in Pakistan. Researchers interviewed thousands of Afghans who returned between 2014 and 2017 – a period that saw both a sharp rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan, and mounting pressure on Afghan refugees living on the margins in Pakistan.

The study found returnees face significantly higher unemployment, resorted to more precarious or unstable jobs like day labouring, and earned lower wages than they did back in Pakistan. They were also more likely to be unemployed or racking up debt compared with Afghans who never left the country.

The research comes at a critical period for the government and aid groups in Afghanistan. UN agencies are forecasting that at least 680,000 refugees and undocumented migrants will return from Pakistan and Iran this year. But there are few jobs available and little help to reintegrate in a country in crisis.

A record 3,800 people were killed in conflict last year, and hundreds of thousands were displaced by clashes or by disasters. Afghanistan is heading toward presidential elections in late September, yet insurgent attacks and military operations continue to kill civilians.

The study’s proponents say the new data can be used to better understand returnees’ humanitarian needs, to shape more targeted aid and development responses – and to prepare for the next wave of returns and displacement.
War and migration in Afghanistan

With their country at war for the past four decades, millions of Afghans have been pushed out by both insecurity and a struggling economy. The UNHCR says the global Afghan refugee population – which includes some 2.7 million registered refugees and millions more undocumented – is the second-largest in the world.

For decades, neighbouring Pakistan and Iran have hosted the majority of these refugees. But returns have surged over the last five years, driven by volatile public sentiment against refugees, geopolitical manoeuvring – Pakistan has previously threatened new rounds of deportation after political tussles with Afghanistan’s main backer, the United States – or economic crises.

https://i.imgur.com/bC83a9R.png

Some Afghans choose to come home, taking advantage of voluntary return programmes that supply cash grants to registered refugees. Other undocumented Afghans are fleeing sporadic police crackdowns in Pakistan. The majority of recent returnees are from Iran, where an economic crisis has driven Afghans out in droves.

But there are few services for returning refugees and migrants. At Afghanistan’s four main border crossings with Pakistan and Iran, returning refugees are registered and the most vulnerable – unaccompanied children and single women – receive short-term assistance like food, clothing, and onward transport. But most of this assistance is short-lived, and migration flows are difficult to track once people have entered the country.

Hafizullah Safi, 50, returned to Afghanistan four years ago along with his wife and 10 children. His family had never set foot in Afghanistan. His last visit was 35 years ago.

Originally from the eastern province of Kunar, a lush rural area with one of Afghanistan’s few remaining forests, Safi decided to settle in Kabul instead – further from the war’s front lines, he said, and closer to schools and hospitals.

But adjusting to his new life has been difficult. He rents a two-room mud home in Kabul’s city centre, but he struggles to pay the monthly rent of 5,000 afghanis, or about $60.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-4.jpg?gQ3a5bjAAzTUlArJjkMcB2lPcNVA6f0L&itok=esE4QG0D#.jpg

“In Pakistan, I owned a small shop selling dried fruit, but here in Kabul I can barely keep my job as a taxi driver,” he said.

Outside his house, a garbage-filled river breeds mosquitoes and smells of faeces. The roads are unpaved and electricity is scarce, if available at all. His son, a university graduate with a business degree, has been looking for a job since finishing his studies.

Safi said there’s little to no assistance from both the government and aid groups. Four years after leaving, the family survives on money sent from relatives still in Pakistan.

High expectations

Rights groups say Afghanistan has failed to implement large-scale land programmes for refugees. Government policy aims to include returnees and displaced communities within the country’s development programmes, but the conflict itself makes progress difficult for all Afghans.

“Returnees often have high expectations and it doesn’t line up with what we can provide,” said Abdul Basit Ansari, a spokesman at the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, which oversees programmes for returnees and the displaced. “Both security and employment continue to be big challenges – not only for those who return, but for Afghans across the country.”

The return to Afghanistan has been difficult for Safi and his family, but he said some aspects are better, compared with living an undocumented existence in Pakistan.

“We were never fully integrated. We always lived in fear of being found out,” he said. “Afghanistan might be dangerous, but in some ways it is safer. This is our home. We are free here.”

Still, in a crisis marked by precarious returns and long-lasting displacement, many Afghans are looking to leave.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-5.jpg?TpluBvOGK9rKIPm4lcpBRpoeOX8Q.rqT&itok=lJ3j4n1a#.jpg

At Pakistan’s embassies and consulates across Afghanistan, more than 5,000 visa applications are made daily, according to Pakistan’s ambassador, with many people waiting in line for days.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border has traditionally been porous, but Safi said regulations have toughened in recent years: “We now need passports and visas to cross the border,” he said. “These are expensive and hard to come by.”

If it wasn’t for paperwork, he admitted, his family would have returned to Pakistan long ago. Instead, he’s eyeing other migration opportunities for his university-educated but jobless son.

“Pakistan is becoming less of an option,” he said. “My son is now trying to go to Europe instead.”

►https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/08/01/Afghan-conflict-returnees-better-off-refugees

#Pakistan

Coming home to conflict: Why Afghan returnees say they were better off as refugees

Life as an Afghan refugee in Pakistan was never easy for Halima Bibi. But living in her own country has been even harder.

Bibi, 60, is among more than 3.8 million refugee and undocumented Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan – by choice or by force – over the last five years. In 2016, after spending their entire lives as refugees, she and her three children were driven over the border on the back of a truck – one family among hundreds of thousands of Afghans pushed out of Pakistan that year in a refugee crackdown.

Today, she lives in a small brick house in Bela, a village hosting around 1,500 returnee families outside the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. None of her three children have jobs, and Bibi worries about her health: she hasn’t been able to find a clinic to treat complications from her leprosy.

“Life’s much more difficult here,” she said, sitting on the steps outside her concrete home, tears rolling down her wrinkled cheeks. “All of our extended family is in Pakistan and we struggle to survive.”

Bibi’s troubles are common among Afghans coming home to a country at war after decades away, but data showing how returnees are faring has been scarce. Now, new research tracking Afghan returnees is painting a clearer picture of what people like Bibi are going through as authorities and aid groups prepare for more returns.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-2.jpg?M3NCyVTg.if5SV7ZDDXwPAffqbRsg.Hg&itok=FwsV_kKF#.jpg

A study released in July by the World Bank and the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, found that most returnees are worse off financially than those who had stayed behind in Pakistan. Researchers interviewed thousands of Afghans who returned between 2014 and 2017 – a period that saw both a sharp rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan, and mounting pressure on Afghan refugees living on the margins in Pakistan.

The study found returnees face significantly higher unemployment, resorted to more precarious or unstable jobs like day labouring, and earned lower wages than they did back in Pakistan. They were also more likely to be unemployed or racking up debt compared with Afghans who never left the country.

The research comes at a critical period for the government and aid groups in Afghanistan. UN agencies are forecasting that at least 680,000 refugees and undocumented migrants will return from Pakistan and Iran this year. But there are few jobs available and little help to reintegrate in a country in crisis.

A record 3,800 people were killed in conflict last year, and hundreds of thousands were displaced by clashes or by disasters. Afghanistan is heading toward presidential elections in late September, yet insurgent attacks and military operations continue to kill civilians.

The study’s proponents say the new data can be used to better understand returnees’ humanitarian needs, to shape more targeted aid and development responses – and to prepare for the next wave of returns and displacement.
War and migration in Afghanistan

With their country at war for the past four decades, millions of Afghans have been pushed out by both insecurity and a struggling economy. The UNHCR says the global Afghan refugee population – which includes some 2.7 million registered refugees and millions more undocumented – is the second-largest in the world.

For decades, neighbouring Pakistan and Iran have hosted the majority of these refugees. But returns have surged over the last five years, driven by volatile public sentiment against refugees, geopolitical manoeuvring – Pakistan has previously threatened new rounds of deportation after political tussles with Afghanistan’s main backer, the United States – or economic crises.

https://i.imgur.com/Sz3wRPu.png

Some Afghans choose to come home, taking advantage of voluntary return programmes that supply cash grants to registered refugees. Other undocumented Afghans are fleeing sporadic police crackdowns in Pakistan. The majority of recent returnees are from Iran, where an economic crisis has driven Afghans out in droves.

But there are few services for returning refugees and migrants. At Afghanistan’s four main border crossings with Pakistan and Iran, returning refugees are registered and the most vulnerable – unaccompanied children and single women – receive short-term assistance like food, clothing, and onward transport. But most of this assistance is short-lived, and migration flows are difficult to track once people have entered the country.

Hafizullah Safi, 50, returned to Afghanistan four years ago along with his wife and 10 children. His family had never set foot in Afghanistan. His last visit was 35 years ago.

Originally from the eastern province of Kunar, a lush rural area with one of Afghanistan’s few remaining forests, Safi decided to settle in Kabul instead – further from the war’s front lines, he said, and closer to schools and hospitals.

But adjusting to his new life has been difficult. He rents a two-room mud home in Kabul’s city centre, but he struggles to pay the monthly rent of 5,000 afghanis, or about $60.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-3.jpg?POOZoSDf5sQvkjFmtpx_YrS4.ngcQvI9&itok=MfZq3cVb#.jpg https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-4.jpg?gQ3a5bjAAzTUlArJjkMcB2lPcNVA6f0L&itok=esE4QG0D#.jpg

“In Pakistan, I owned a small shop selling dried fruit, but here in Kabul I can barely keep my job as a taxi driver,” he said.

Outside his house, a garbage-filled river breeds mosquitoes and smells of faeces. The roads are unpaved and electricity is scarce, if available at all. His son, a university graduate with a business degree, has been looking for a job since finishing his studies.

Safi said there’s little to no assistance from both the government and aid groups. Four years after leaving, the family survives on money sent from relatives still in Pakistan.

High expectations

Rights groups say Afghanistan has failed to implement large-scale land programmes for refugees. Government policy aims to include returnees and displaced communities within the country’s development programmes, but the conflict itself makes progress difficult for all Afghans.

“Returnees often have high expectations and it doesn’t line up with what we can provide,” said Abdul Basit Ansari, a spokesman at the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, which oversees programmes for returnees and the displaced. “Both security and employment continue to be big challenges – not only for those who return, but for Afghans across the country.”

The return to Afghanistan has been difficult for Safi and his family, but he said some aspects are better, compared with living an undocumented existence in Pakistan.

“We were never fully integrated. We always lived in fear of being found out,” he said. “Afghanistan might be dangerous, but in some ways it is safer. This is our home. We are free here.”

Still, in a crisis marked by precarious returns and long-lasting displacement, many Afghans are looking to leave.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/afghanistan-pakistan_returns-5.jpg?TpluBvOGK9rKIPm4lcpBRpoeOX8Q.rqT&itok=lJ3j4n1a#.jpg

At Pakistan’s embassies and consulates across Afghanistan, more than 5,000 visa applications are made daily, according to Pakistan’s ambassador, with many people waiting in line for days.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border has traditionally been porous, but Safi said regulations have toughened in recent years: “We now need passports and visas to cross the border,” he said. “These are expensive and hard to come by.”

If it wasn’t for paperwork, he admitted, his family would have returned to Pakistan long ago. Instead, he’s eyeing other migration opportunities for his university-educated but jobless son.

“Pakistan is becoming less of an option,” he said. “My son is now trying to go to Europe instead.”

►https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/08/01/Afghan-conflict-returnees-better-off-refugees

#Pessat-Villeneuve #asile #migrations #réfugiés #solidarité #France #accueil

French village opens its chateau as home from home for refugees

Pessat-Villeneuve is a typical village in the Puy de Dôme region in central France. It has rows of detached houses with gardens, an elegant Romanesque church, a schoolyard where children play and shout, a French flag flying from the town hall, and a park with a chateau which was once a summer camp and is now owned by the town council.

▻http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2017/4/58e61a3d4/french-village-opens-its-chateau-home-home-refugees.html

Immigration : un village fait de l’accueil des migrants une seconde nature

REPORTAGE - La commune de Pessat-Villeneuve (Puy-de-Dôme) accueille chaque année une cinquantaine de migrants.

▻http://www.rtl.fr/actu/societe-faits-divers/immigration-un-village-fait-de-l-accueil-des-migrants-une-seconde-nature-7791821

Gérard Dubois, maire de Pessat-Villeneuve

Après avoir accueilli des migrants, trois années de suite, dans le cadre d’un Centre d’Accueil et d’Orientation, la petite commune puydômoise de Pessat-Villeneuve candidate pour une structure pérenne. Elle a répondu à un appel à projet pour accueillir un Centre Provisoire d’Hébergement pour des personnes ayant le statut de réfugiés. Les explications du maire de la commune, Gérard Dubois.

▻https://www.francebleu.fr/emissions/l-invite-de-la-redaction/pays-d-auvergne/gerard-dubois-maire-de-pessat-villeneuve

Puy-de-Dôme : Pessat-Villeneuve pérennise l’accueil de réfugiés

Depuis trois ans, la commune de Pessat-Villeneuve accueille des migrants. Une solidarité clairement affichée par son maire, menacé de mort pour s’être engagé pour cette cause. Aujourd’hui il vient d’obtenir l’ouverture d’une centre provisoire d’hébergement pour pérenniser cet accueil.

https://cdn.radiofrance.fr/s3/cruiser-production/2016/11/228ecd5f-43c3-49d9-83c6-97221e74155d/870x489_x870x489_img_9179.jpg.pagespeed.ic.of0e7slwli.jpg#.jpg

C’est la rentrée pour les enfants des réfugiés de Pessat-Villeneuve

Du primaire au lycée, 13 enfants de réfugiés accueillis au centre de Pessat-Villeneuve font aussi leur rentrée.

▻https://www.francebleu.fr/emissions/le-zoom-de-la-redaction/pays-d-auvergne/le-zoom-de-la-redaction-84

French village sets an example of how to welcome refugees

For four months, residents and volunteers in Pessat-Villeneuve in central France have been helping 60 evacuees from Africa build new lives.

It is nearly 5 pm on a cold January evening in Pessat-Villeneuve and the first snow of the year is falling. The atmosphere is quiet as a group of African refugees take a break from French classes.

It is an important day. In keeping with tradition, the mayor, Gérard Dubois will present his New Year wishes to villagers and their refugee guests at a reception in the evening.

Besides its 653 inhabitants, the village, in the Puy de Dôme region in central France, hosts 60 refugees resettled from Niger and Chad. They arrived four months ago and are accommodated in the village’s château.

Sudanese refugee Alfatih, 25, is one. He jokes outside the school, where he has been learning French for nearly four months.

“The first thing I noticed in Pessat-Villeneuve is that there are many good people here,” Alfatih says. “They help us a lot. Pessat-Villeneuve is nice.”

“When I arrived there, I was very, very tired of running.”

Just four months earlier, Alfatih was in Goz Beïda, in eastern Chad. He has never seen snow before and wonders how it feels.

In 2018, France undertook to resettle 3,000 refugees from Chad and Niger by the end of 2019, including some of those evacuated from Libya.

The refugees are accommodated in the château under the care of a local non-governmental organization, CeCler.

The NGO’s social workers and educators help them navigate administrative procedures, and find housing and work, while volunteers guide them through daily life, such as shopping and sports activities.

Alfatih fled Sudan when he was a child. He was 10 when the Janjawid militia attacked his village and killed his father in front of him.

“My father was at the mosque on a Friday,” he recalls. “My mother told me to run and to tell my father that the village was being attacked. In the panic, everyone ran in another direction and I couldn’t find anyone. When I returned home, I saw my father killed in front of me.”

https://www.unhcr.org/thumb3/5c488cca4.jpg

During the attack, Alfatih was separated from his mother, brothers and sisters.

The group took him to the forest, where the beat him then abandoned him. “I cried a lot. I didn’t know what I could do.”

For months, he searched for his family from village to village without success. He found an uncle who took him under his wing and together they fled to Chad. There, they were taken to Goz Amer refugee camp by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

“When I arrived there, I was very, very tired of running,” he says. “I was very sad until I found my mother, my sisters and my brothers.”

Alfatih resumed his education and passed the Sudanese baccalaureate in Chad. He also took a course in agriculture.

More than once he thought of taking the dangerous road to Libya and discussed it with his friends, but stayed behind in Chad.

“My mother had an operation in Goz Beïda,” he says. “Her health is not good. Her heart is bad. Sometimes, she could be happy, sometimes, she could be ill. We don’t have a dad who can support us, who could help us, and we need to study.”

Alfatih was the only member of the family who had any vocational training but his prospects were poor and life was difficult.

“We could not return to Sudan. We said to each other that our only choice was to go to Libya and after that to try anything. We needed to study. We were in the camp for a long time.

“A lot of my friends went to Libya. I don’t know where they are now.”

The French government resettled Alfatih’s mother, his two younger brothers and sister in Dijon. Alfatih, another brother and sister were taken to Pessat-Villeneuve.

Resettlement is a way to protect the most vulnerable refugees and shield them from dangerous journeys.

In its latest report, (to be published on Jan 30), on the routes refugees are taking to find safety, UNHCR notes that numbers may be falling in some places but that the perils of such journeys remain undimmed.

In particular, the report, entitled Desperate Journeys, details how the death rate has increased for people crossing the Mediterranean and stresses how people like Alfatih have had to face increased dangers of kidnapping and torture for ransom, and the threat from traffickers even before facing the deadliest sea crossing in the world.

“A lot of my friends went to Libya. I don’t know where they are now.”

However, the report found that patterns of movement changed in 2018. More people crossed the sea to Spain from May onwards, making it the main entry point to Europe for the first time since 2008.

Smugglers made the journey more accessible at a time when it had become harder to cross via Libya,

Spain, France, and Germany undertook to relocate the largest numbers of people after their arrival in Europe, it said.

Among its recommendations, the report called for a coordinated response to rescue at sea, greater support for the countries where most refugees and migrants arrive and further steps to hold perpetrators of crimes against refugees and migrants, including traffickers, accountable.

Ibrahim, a 30-year-old refugee from Eritrea, also lives in the Pessat-Villeneuve reception centre. He was resettled from Niger to France after being evacuated from Libya by UNHCR.

Previously, he made five unsuccessful attempts to undertake the dangerous sea voyage from Libya to Europe. During one of the attempts, he was among the few who survived when their boat capsized.

“Out of 148 people, only 20 people survived,” he says. He and six others clung to a wooden section of the boat and managed to stay afloat.

Now that they are safe, Alfatih and Ibrahim want to resume their studies.

Alfatih has ambitions to be become a doctor or a social worker so he can help others. Ibrahim wants to work in the food industry.

“I believe you can do anything if you really want to”, Alfatih says.

“In what I learn from life in France, what strikes me too, is that here, I live in a democracy.”

In his speech at the reception, Mayor Dubois reviews the highlights of the year. With pride he mentions the opening of the refugee reception in the château.

“I will always be here to defend our village, its interests, its residents, its employees, its officials, its values,” he says. “I will be the shield against hared, xenophobia, populism and mediocrity.

“Friends, we are on Gallic soil. Before you enjoy the dishes made for you, I will pass on a secret recipe, the one for Pessat-Villeneuve’s magic potion. Although it’s a secret, I give you permission to share it with the whole world.

“You take one quarter liberty, one quarter equality and one quarter brotherhood. And you need a pinch of secularism. Mix in a good dose of optimism. Don’t forget to water it generously with mutual support.

“And there, before your eyes, is a commune like Pessat-Villeneuve, a place full of humanity and the qualities that together define us: free, fraternal, supportive and, quite simply, human.”

https://www.unhcr.org/thumb3/5c48891c1.jpg https://www.unhcr.org/thumb3/5c4889155.jpg https://www.unhcr.org/thumb3/5c4889135.jpg

24 réfugiés sont arrivés au centre d’accueil de Pessat-Villeneuve (Puy-de-Dôme)

https://image1.lamontagne.fr/photoSRC/VVNUJ1paUTgIBhVOCRAHHQ4zRSkXaldfVR5dW1sXVA49/refugies-arrivent-a-pessat-villeneuve_4385232.jpeg

Trois petits minibus ont déposé hier matin 24 réfugiés, hommes et femmes, venus principalement d’Érythrée, au centre d’accueil de Pessat-Villeneuve (Puy-de-Dôme). Tout un symbole en ce jour de journée mondiale des migrants.

Même s’il a pris le pli, Gérard Dubois, maire de Pessat-Villeneuve, ressent toujours cette même « petite pointe au cœur » à chaque arrivée de réfugiés. « C’est toujours une émotion. Je sais à quel point c’est exceptionnel pour eux, et j’imagine le choc qu’ils ressentent. »
« C’est une goutte d’eau dans la mer… Mais c’est essentiel »

Pas de routine donc, malgré les 453 migrants et réfugiés que le centre, depuis son ouverture, aura vu passer, en comptant l’arrivée de 48 nouvelles familles prévue le 3 juillet. Bénévole depuis le début de l’aventure, le 3 novembre 2015, Sylvie reste fidèle au poste. « C’est toujours une émotion particulière quand ils arrivent… Et quand ils partent aussi d’ailleurs. On tisse tellement de belles histoires », évoque la professeur de Français multicasquettes. « Je donne des cours, mais je fais aussi du covoiturage et des courses. » Et une motivation intacte, malgré les deux années et demi écoulées.

« C’est de l’humanité, c’est mon histoire personnelle. Mes parents étaient réfugiés et la République m’a tout offert, ça doit être pareil pour eux. C’est une goutte d’eau dans la mer… Mais c’est essentiel. »

Encadrés par l’association Cecler, les réfugiés vont pouvoir entamer les procédures de régularisation et d’intégration. À compter d’octobre, le Centre d’accueil des réfugiés réinstallés (CARR) de Pessat deviendra un Centre provisoire d’hébergement (CPH), un statut qui permettra aux réfugiés de résider neuf mois au lieu de quatre actuellement.

▻https://www.lamontagne.fr/pessat-villeneuve-63200/actualites/24-refugies-sont-arrives-au-centre-d-accueil-de-pessat-villeneuve-puy-de-

"Je suis condamné à mort sur un site d’extrême droite" : un maire bataille depuis cinq ans pour faire accepter des réfugiés installés dans sa commune

Pessat-Villeneuve, en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, a été l’une des premières communes à accueillir des migrants de Calais en 2015. Une décision qui a valu au maire une série de menaces et d’appels malveillants. Gérard Dubois reste pourtant seul candidat à sa succession.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/image/75rw2wqpl-80ab/1200/450/21067239.jpg

« J’en tremble encore presque d’émotion ». Gérard Dubois, le maire DVG de Pessat-Villeneuve, une petite commune du Puy-de-Dôme de 670 habitants, se souvient comme si c’était hier de ce soir de novembre 2015 où il s’apprête à recevoir ses premiers réfugiés après le démantèlement de la jungle de Calais. « Et donc ils sont 48 jeunes hommes, fatigués, dénutris, qui arrivent directement de Calais en bus et qui déboulent ici en Auvergne, dans un tout petit village. Moi, je me suis positionné dans une posture d’urgence humanitaire », explique le maire.
« Ça commence à déraper sérieux ! »

Dans cette urgence, il n’a pas eu le temps de prévenir ses administrés, ce qui lui vaut dès le lendemain des menaces et des coups de fils anonymes. « On a eu jusqu’à 200 coups de fil, des horreurs, des courriers anonymes… Le premier que je vois arriver je l’ouvre, et le lendemain je me rappelle qu’il y en a un autre qui arrive. Celui-là, je mets des gants pour l’ouvrir. Je suis condamné à mort sur un site d’extrême droite. Et du coup, c’est un peu la trouille de se dire : ’Mais bon sang, ça commence à déraper sérieux !’ », raconte Gérard Dubois. Il organise une réunion publique et s’y rend sous protection policière. La salle est comble.

Quelques mois plus tard, un autre bus arrive. De nouveau les réseaux sociaux se déchainent mais le maire tient bon. « On m’avait tellement promis des choses terribles, que ça allait cramer, qu’il y aurait des déchets partout, les viols, tout ça… Le moindre incident, je sais que je vais trinquer », se souvient-il.

Mais tout se passe bien. Et les bénévoles sont de plus en plus nombreux pour aider les réfugiés. Ils sont 70 à être hébergés aujourd’hui sur la commune et pour son hospitalité et sa solidarité, Gérard Dubois a reçu la légion d’honneur. Brigitte est l’une des bénévoles et elle affiche un soutien ému à son maire.

Brigitte reconnaît cependant que la question de l’accueil de ces réfugiés est « encore compliquée pour certains ». Ce que confirme Gérard Dubois : « J’ai eu encore un courrier d’un habitant de Pessat qui a soi-disant un problème d’eau qui entre chez lui. Et il écrit : ’Arrête de ne t’occuper que des migrants ! Occupe-toi de nous !’ Tant que je serai maire, il y aura toujours des réfugiés à Pessat-Villeneuve. Si le maire n’est pas porteur d’un petit village comme ça, ça ne marche pas. »

Mais la rancune est tenace chez certains."Je ne suis pas d’accord d’accueillir des gens comme ça", explique un habitant qui n’a jamais accepté les réfugiés. Je suis pour les aider. Il faudrait les aider chez eux", poursuit-il. Et de préciser qu’il ne votera pas pour Gérard Dubois aux municipales, même si ce dernier, seul candidat à sa succession, est assuré d’être réélu.❞

▻https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/europe/migrants/je-suis-condamne-a-mort-sur-un-site-d-extreme-droite-un-maire-bataille-

LETTRE ANONYME. Hier soir, 9 mars 2020, en relevant le courrier de la mairie j’ai eu la désagréable surprise de recevoir une lettre anonyme. Cette lettre vient compléter une « abjecte collection » qui a commencé en novembre 2015. Ma récente médiatisation dans les médias nationaux, RMC, France Info et le journal La Croix, sans oublier la Montagne bien entendu, cette médiatisation a provoqué de nombreuses réactions sur les sites de ces médias, du négatif, beaucoup, mais aussi du positif, beaucoup aussi... L’extrême-droite est à l’affût prête à répandre sa propagande nauséabonde. Ne leur déplaise je suis là et bien là pour protéger et continuer à accueillir. Comme je l’ai dit sur France Info, je ne lâcherai pas, je ne lâcherai jamais.
Au fond, les agressions, qu’elles que soient leurs formes, me rendent plus fort plus combatif et me confortent dans mon engagement dans l’accueil digne, solidaire de ces enfants, de ces femmes et de ces hommes qui ont souffert. C’est le plus beau combat que je n’aurais jamais pensé mener.

▻https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2721716481260287&set=a.1313915988707017&type=3&theater

https://i.imgur.com/3nvgPVY.jpg