Assisted Returns 2023

UNHCR monitors and supports refugee returnees who have chosen to return to Afghanistan. As part of this process, UNHCR interviews refugees willing to return at the Voluntary Repatriation Centers in the country of asylum, assess the households' conditions for return through interviews at the Encashment Centers in Afghanistan and follows up on the returnees' situation in the areas of return one to six months later through phone surveys. Upon return to Afghanistan, returnees are assisted at four Encashment Centers with a cash grant to support their immediate humanitarian needs and transportation costs. In 2023, UNHCR replaced its long-standing VolRep procedures with the ARRD, which aims to strengthen the support to returnees. 2023 also saw mass returns from Pakistan under the Illegal Foreigner's Repatriation Plan. To support returned Afghans affected by this plan, UNHCR set up Forced Afghan Returns Enrollment (FARE), where household receive similar support and provide information about the conditions under which they return. This dataset is a compilation of datapoints collected through the FARE and ARRD on the 12,500 household UNHCR assisted in their returns. The objective of the interviews is to record details on the returnee households and family members including the amount of cash grant received. Data collected through the VolRep system are available for each year from 2010 to 2022.