Where We Work
Islamabad:
The UNHCR branch office in Islamabad manages and supervises the overall country operations with an independent field unit which remotely monitors UNHCR programmes in Punjab and Sindh provinces.
UNHCR’s 200 staff members in Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar also care for several thousand asylum seekers and non-Afghan refugees from the region and Africa.
UNHCR maintains 80 recognised refugee villages (RVs) in the country; however, about 55 percent of registered Afghans reside urban areas. In these villages, UNHCR in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan and NGOs is providing basic community-based services like primary school education, basic health care, water and sanitation.
Since 2002, in what has become the world’s largest assisted return programme, UNHCR has been facilitating voluntary repatriation of millions of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. Ten years after program began; UNHCR has assisted 3.7million Afghans to return home.
In 2009, in recognition to Pakistan’s hospitality towards refugees, the Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) initiative was launched, under the joint One UN programme with an initial appeal of US$140 million over five years. Projects implemented under the RAHA initiative are designed to improve the lives of people living in locations that have been impacted by the 30-year presence of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A total of 584 RAHA projects have been implemented in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. For 2012, some 100 projects have been planed to be completed before the end of year.
Email PAKIS@unhcr.org
Address: Quad-i-Azam University Road,
Diplomatic Enclave, G-4,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Peshawar
UNHCR operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are run and monitored by our office in Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is home to around one million Afghan refugees, living in 70 official refugee villages and in urban settings. Since 2008, UNHCR in Peshawar in close coordination with the provincial and federal authorities have assisted millions of Pakistan’s internally displaced people from FATA and the Swat Valley. There are three IDP camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, where UNHCR together with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) KP and the Federal Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) is providing assistance to the displaced.
UNHCR also has a smaller field office in Kohat and a field unit in Timergara. For monitoring the cross border movements of refugees, sub-office Peshawar has assigned border monitoring staff at the Tokham-Jalalabad border crossing. Additionally, there are three voluntary repatriation centres in the province, in Chamkani, Bannu and Timergara.
Under the Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas initiative, (RAHA) more than 235 projects have been completed in the region since 2009. A further 91 projects are planned for 2012. UNHCR is also constructing one-room shelters in conflict affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA for those internally displaced as well as for flood affected families. The agency has built some 4,569 shelters in FATA for the returned IDPs, while an additional 9,164 one-room shelters were built for people impacted by floods. UNHCR plans to build 2,500 more shelters in South Waziristan and Kurram Agency in 2012.
Email: PAKPE@unhcr.org
Address: House No 1, Gull Moher Lane
University Town Peshawar
Quetta
UNHCR setup its first office in Balochistan in the provincial capital Quetta in early 1980s. UNHCR has a sub-office in Quetta, three field-units, one each in the districts of Loralai, Chaghi and Chaman. The Chaman field unit monitors cross border movement, and ensures the smooth operation of UNHCR’s facilitated voluntary return programme. A voluntary repatriation centre, where refugees can register their intention to return home, is located in Baleli, near Quetta.
Balochistan is the second biggest refugee hosting province of Pakistan where UNHCR operates 10 refugee villages. Under the RAHA initiative, more than 167 projects have been completed in Balochistan since 2009, while 54 more are planned to complete in 2012.
Email: PAKQU@unhcr.org
Address: House # 36, Block E,
Chaman Housing Society, Quetta
Karachi
The Karachi office looks after the refugee issues in Karachi urban areas and in Sindh province. Sindh hosts more than 71,000 Afghan refugees, the majority residing in Karachi. Between 2010 and 2011, UNHCR had small field units in Sukkar and Hyderabad to assist the government in flood relief.
E-mail: PAKKA@unhcr.org
Address: F-65, Block IV, KDA-Scheme 5
Kehkashan Clifton Karachi
