Press Release High-level delegation meets returning Afghan refugees at Voluntary Repatriation Centres in Nowshera and Peshawar NOWSHERA: The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) inaugurated the agency’s second voluntary repatriation centre Wednesday, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to facilitate the safe and dignified return of Afghan refugees to Afghanistan. With the opening of the new centre in Azakhel, Nowsh ...

Press Release KOT CHANDNA, MIANWALI, 21 SEPTEMBER 2016 – The first girls’ high school in Kot Chandna refugee village in Mianwali district, Punjab opened on Wednesday. The school called “Community Girls Model School No 2” will teach 11 girls aged between 14-16 years old. The girls will be taught by Ms. Aqeela Asifi – the 2015 Nansen Refugee Award winner. Using the Nansen prize fund of US$100,000, Ms. Aqeela ...

Press Release PESHAWAR: The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) delivered 2,500 tents to government authorities in Peshawar on Friday. The tents handed over to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) will be dispatched to South Waziristan and Orakzai agencies. The tents are for families who have recently returned to the area now deemed safe by Pakistan’s security authoritie ...

Press Release ISLAMABAD (19 July, 2016): The Representatives of the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday underlined their commitment to empower Afghan refugees in Pakistan and to pro-actively work towards their voluntary repatriation and sustainable reintegration in Afghanistan. They called on the international community to support these efforts aimed at ac ...

Press Release ISLAMABAD: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi concluded his first tri-nation visit to Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. On the last leg of his mission in Pakistan, the High Commissioner announced an increase in assistance package for registered Afghan refugee families, who are opting to return to Afghanistan under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary return progamme. Dur ...

Press Release 23 June 2016 PESHAWAR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has urged the international community to invest more in youth empowerment and education while the current emergencies have increased global concern about the additional risks faced by children who do not have access to educational opportunities. The High Commissioner noted that protracted refugee hosting co ...

23 June 2016 The Joint Communique was issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Filippo Grandi and Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Lt. Gen. (Retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch on the occasion of the UN High Commissioner’s Visit to Pakistan. 1) This Communique is being issued in pursuance of the High Commissioner’s meetings with the President of Pakistan, the Minister of Finance, detailed delib ...

Press Release ISLAMABAD:  Millions marked World Refugee Day (WRD) with events across the globe as UNHCR reported that the number of forcibly displaced people was higher than it had ever been in history. UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report (GTR) which was released on 20 June said 65.3 million people were displaced as of the end of 2015, compared to 59.5 million just twelve months earlier. This is the first t ...

Press Release ISLAMABAD: The UN Refugee Agency and Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (AHAN) organised a one-day exhibition with the theme ‘Homemade’ to showcase and  promote the handicraft products made by Pakistani communities and Afghan refugees at Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA). As part of UNHCR’s youth empowerment interventions under the Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) programme, AHAN trained some ...

Press Release One day national seminar on ‘Seeking Solutions and Managing Afghan Refugees in Pakistan’ was held at National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad on 26th April 2016. A large number of participants attended the proceedings. The seminar aimed at highlighting the importance of developing a practical set of policies regarding lasting solutions for the management of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and ...