DUBAI // The urgent need to create job opportunities for Afghan refugees who have returned home will be discussed in the emirate on Friday.
The country’s ministers will meet with representatives from the United Nations and Pakistan.
The 24th Tripartite Commission meeting in Dubai will review pilot projects set up in Afghan villages to encourage refugees living in neighbouring Pakistan to return to their homes.
“This is a fairly critical juncture with presidential elections in Afghanistan three months away and with troop withdrawals this year,” said Neill Wright, the representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pakistan.
“Refugees are waiting to see what will be the situation later this year and whether it is the right time to go back. This is the largest voluntary repatriation of refugees anywhere in the world, so it’s important we continue to facilitate a solution.”
Presidential and provincial council elections are scheduled to take place in Afghanistan in April.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) coalition is also due to pull out this year, with government figures showing there are 57,000 international troops left in the country.
The displacement of Afghans has been described by the UN as the world’s largest and longest-standing refugee situation.
About 1.6 million refugees remain in Pakistan, the UNHCR estimates.
Since 2002, nearly four million people have returned to Afghanistan with the UNHCR’s assistance.
Finding a solution to the refugee crisis was endorsed by the international community, including the UAE, at a Geneva meeting in 2012.
The UAE has also been at the forefront of providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and other nations, as well as supporting infrastructure projects such as building roads, schools, mosques and hospitals, and setting up solar-energy projects in isolated Afghan villages.
In Pakistan, the UAE has led health, education, and water projects.
During a three-day visit to the UAE, Mr Wright will meet ministers and seek more support for the UN’s repatriation of Afghan refugees.
“The UAE Embassy in Islamabad regularly meets with us and we have donor conferences to show them what is happening on the ground,” he said.
“The UAE already do support the UNHCR’s work in helping refugees in Pakistan and the UAE has a bilateral arrangement to assist the needy in Pakistan.
“There is a need to expand that bilateral activity and explore a multi-lateral activity. We would welcome that. The needs are huge.”
Changes are already being seen in some of the 48 UNHCR-facilitated Afghan pilot projects.
Villages near Bamiyan and Herat provinces have small-scale employment opportunities for women and lights provided by a hydro-electricity power plant.
The meeting in Dubai will focus on areas such as mining opportunities and providing agricultural land to returnees.
“There is huge competition among the returnees and the existing population for employment,” Mr Wright said.
“The objective is to work together to help them reintegrate successfully. Investment at the village level would directly encourage refugees to think it’s time to voluntarily go back and restart their lives.”
rtalwar@thenational.ae