§ Mr. ChidgeyTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment has been made of the refugee situation in(a) Zhare Dasht, (b) other camps within Afghanistan and (c) camps set up in Pakistan by refugees fleeing Afghanistan; and what support the UK is providing to (i) NGOs and (ii) the United Nations Refugee Agency to address the refugee problem. [162969]
§ Hilary BennDFID provided over £9 million funding to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) 2003 Afghanistan appeals. UNHCR and WFP have contracted local and international Non-Governmental Organisations to help provide basic health care, education, food and water in the refugee camps.
881WRefugees are now returning home. Recently, community leaders from refugee camps inside Afghanistan issued a written statement that they felt conditions in the North have now improved sufficiently for refugees to return. As a result, 30 families (118 individuals) from the Zahre Dasht camp returned to Farayab province on 21 March. UNHCR jointly facilitated the return and provided shelter, income generation opportunities and water to vulnerable returnees in their areas of origin.
From a high of one million refugees living inside Afghanistan in 2001, there are now fewer than 200,000. Similarly, over three million refugees have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran.