The United Nations agencies focused on refugees and migration jointly voiced their concerns Wednesday over Pakistan's plans to begin a new round of mass deportations of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers.
The reaction came a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a multistage plan targeting nearly 3 million Afghan citizens residing in Pakistan. They include legally declared refugees, documented as well as undocumented migrants, and those who are awaiting promised relocation to the United States and other Western countries.
The official plan seen by VOA mandates the immediate relocation of all Afghans from the national capital, Islamabad, and the adjacent city of Rawalpindi to designated camps before their repatriation to Afghanistan. The document emphasized without mentioning a timeline that no public announcement should be made regarding the deportations.
In a joint statement Wednesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration, IOM, said they “are seeking clarity over the modality and timeframe of this relocation.”
Both agencies urged Pakistan to consider human rights standards when implementing relocation measures. This includes ensuring due process for legal refugees and economic migrants who have been granted Afghan Citizen Cards or ACC, by Pakistan in collaboration with IOM, the statement explained. Official estimates put the ACC population at more than 800,000.
"Forced return to Afghanistan could place some people at increased risk. We urge Pakistan to continue to provide safety to Afghans at risk, irrespective of their documentation status,” said Philippa Candler, the UNHCR country representative.
Mio Sato, the IOM chief of mission in Islamabad, said her organization is committed to working with the Pakistani government and UNHCR to develop a mechanism to register, manage and screen Afghan nationals in Pakistan.
“This will open the door to tailored solutions, including international protection to those in need and pathways for Afghan nationals with long-standing socioeconomic and family ties in the country,” she said.
In the first phase, the deportation plan requires authorities to relocate people possessing an ACC, along with undocumented Afghan migrants, from Islamabad and Rawalpindi and send them back to Afghanistan.
Pakistan has allowed more than 1.4 million legal Afghan refugees to remain in the country until June 30, 2025. The new plan requires their relocation from the two cities in the second phase without stating whether they will also be deported to Afghanistan.
Sharif has also ordered authorities to deport around 40,000 Afghans from Islamabad and Rawalpindi by March 31 in the third phase of the deportation plan and subsequently arrange for their repatriation if their relocation and resettlement cases to third countries are not processed expeditiously.
These individuals fled Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the country in 2021, primarily seeking shelter from potential retribution due to their affiliations with the U.S. and NATO forces.
Last month, President Donald Trump halted the U.S. Refugee Admission Program to assess whether reinstating it serves the interests of Washington, leaving at least 15,000 Afghan allies in Pakistan approved or being assessed for relocation to the U.S. in a state of uncertainty.
Since 2023, Pakistani authorities have forcibly repatriated more than 800,000 undocumented Afghans from its territory. The deportations resulted from a government crackdown on foreigners living in the country without legal permission or whose visas had expired. Islamabad has attributed a recent rise in crimes and militancy in Pakistan to Afghan nationals.
UNHCR and IOM said that they recognize the challenges Islamabad faces, especially in security, and that refugees, like all, must abide by Pakistan’s laws. “The overwhelming majority of Afghan nationals in Pakistan are law-abiding individuals whose situation needs to be seen through a humanitarian lens,” they said in their joint statement.
The two U.N. agencies expressed their particular concern for Afghan nationals who may face harm upon their return, including ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists and members of artistic professions such as musicians.
The Islamist Taliban leaders have placed sweeping restrictions on women’s access to education, employment and public life and have banned music in Afghanistan.
