United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Friday supported Pakistan’s steps for regulating the legal movement of Afghan refugees at Pak-Afghan border and said nobody would support any illegal move, which might lead to security problems.
Appreciating Pakistan for hosting three million Afghan refugees for over three and half decades, Grandi called upon Afghan government to facilitate the settlement of Pakistan-based refugees by creating conducive environment for peace and stability.
“In a world of closed borders, where xenophobia is rising and rich countries are turning away migrants and refugees, Pakistan is an extraordinary example. In this regard, it is paramount to highlight that besides the extraordinary solidarity exhibited by Pakistan in the last 40 years, it is equally important to identify how this solidarity has contributed to regional stability,” Grandi said at a public talk on ‘Afghan Refugee Situation: Contextualising the Role of Pakistan and UNHCR’ organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) under its distinguished lecture series.
Grandi stated that the Afghan refugee problem was a big part of the world displacement problem, making it one of the most protracted issues.
“However, protracted should not mean forgotten. The contemporary world is one of multiple challenges and the situation is becoming increasingly complicated in terms of human consequences. Around 68.5 million refugees are displaced around the world – out of them 25 million of them are registered Afghan refugees,” he said.
The high commissioner raised concerns about Afghanistan’s security situation and the lack of the Afghan government’s ability to implement policies, which had resulted in poverty and unemployment.
Published in Daily Times, September 8th 2018.
