UNHCR in Afghanistan
UNHCR in Afghanistan
We lead international action to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people.
We deliver life-saving assistance, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place called home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality.
We work in over 130 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.
Afghans make up one of the largest refugee populations worldwide. As of end of year 2023, Afghans represented the second largest refugee population (6.1 million), after Syrians (6.5 million). Most Afghan refugees live in neighbouring countries in the region. Together, Iran and Pakistan host 5.5 million Afghan refugees in addition to an estimated 1.5 million undocumented Afghans. Another 3.2 million people are internally displaced, having fled their homes searching for refuge within the country.
Afghanistan has endured more than four decades of conflict, natural disasters, chronic poverty, and food insecurity. Facing an ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis, the coping mechanisms of refugees, internally displaced people, and host communities are severely strained.
UNHCR has been present in Afghanistan for over 35 years. UNHCR Afghanistan provides life-saving protection and humanitarian assistance, with particular attention to health, education, and livelihoods, to internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees, refugee and IDP returnees, and vulnerable host communities, in 80 Priority Areas of Return and Reintegration (PARRs). UNHCR aims to meet urgent immediate needs while building community resilience and preventing further displacement. UNHCR's work is based on the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
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UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan
Mr. Arafat Jamal is the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Afghanistan since 17 July 2024.
Arafat has served with UNHCR both at headquarters and in the field for over three decades. Before his assignment to Afghanistan, he was UNHCR’s Coordinator for the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF), the flagship multilateral global event for refugees, which raised over USD 2.2 billion for refugees and their hosts.
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Where we work
UNHCR has nine offices across Afghanistan to deliver responses informed by the needs and voices of local communities.
UNHCR has identified 80 Priority Areas of Return and Reintegration (PARRs) across Afghanistan. The PARRs are a key component of UNHCR's work to strengthen essential facilities and services in communities where there are large number of returnees.
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