Around 1.5 million Afghan refugees have chosen to remain in Pakistan although a year has passed since the USA’s abrupt withdrawal from Kabul. Meanwhile, Pakistan remains host to the largest number of refugees in Asia and the Pacific.
A report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday detailed that the number of refugees in Asia-Pacific surged by 138,400 last year, and is now at 4.2 million. This is 19 percent of the global refugee population and indicates a three percent increase from 2020.
At least 250,000 Afghans have entered Pakistan since August 2021 as per official estimates. By December 2021, the Documentation Renewal and Information Verification Exercise (DRIVE) noted that 1.25 million registered Afghans in Pakistan were in possession of the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, and an additional 129,700 Unregistered Members of Registered Families (UMRFs) were awaiting verification by then.
The Afghan refugee population is still the largest in the region and the third largest globally, with 2.7 million refugees residing in 98 countries.
The numbers grew by almost five percent (118,000) last year because of new outflows to Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. Pakistan welcomed 108,000 refugees and Iran, 27,800, besides 59,100 newly registered births and new recognitions in Europe and 6,000 in Asia-Pacific.
The number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) also grew in 2021 because of armed conflicts and human rights violations. There were around 4.4 million IDPs in the region by the end of last year, which was a 23 percent increase as compared to the end of 2020.
Moreover, seven countries in the region reported conflict-induced IDPs by the end of 2021, with Afghanistan leading with 3.5 million IDPs.
