Afghan refugees asked to return to place of origin

[maddezmom]

Published: Wednesday, 12 April, 2006, 11:25 AM Doha Time

ISLAMABAD: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has advised Afghan refugees repatriating from Pakistan to return to the places they originally left in order to take advantage of a new land distribution programme.

“We’re advising Afghans to go back to their areas of origin, especially those who do not own homes or land for housing,” Vivian Tan, a UNHCR spokeswoman based in Islamabad says.

~snip~

In last year’s census of Afghans living in Pakistan, about 57% of respondents cited lack of shelter and land as the major reason for staying in Pakistan. Another 20% cited lack of jobs in Afghanistan as the reason.

“These are very real, reasonable issues,” says Indrika Ratwatte, the UNHCR deputy in Pakistan. “But not classic refugee reasons. Instead these are socio-economic challenges, which necessitate more development-related activities inside Afghanistan.”

more;http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=81373&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23

[Kutjara]

1. The old excuse.

This is just the old 'political refugees' vs. 'economic migrants' argument reheated and served up again.

The use of language like 'economic migrant' and 'socio-economic challenges' instead of 'refugee' makes the people look like they are electing to leave their home country for a slightly better standard of living elsewhere. They are, in fact, fleeing starvation, economic and political oppression and utter lack of opportunity. The expectation that these people should just go 'home' and wait until 'development-related activities' automagically make them wealthy and happy is, at best, unrealistic.

More BS from the masters of the art.