Contact: M. Nader Farhad, 70-279-231, 799-205-711

KABUL, August 13 /Standard Newswire/ -- (UNHCR) As part of its shelter program, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides some 10,000 returnee families with shelter assistance this year to help them build their homes. As in previous years, returning families from Pakistan, Iran and displaced families will be eligible to benefit.

UNHCR has already signed agreements with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help construct some 10,000 housing units for the vulnerable returnees, of which about 70 per cent across the country are now either under construction or have already been completed. UNHCR concentrates on providing rural housing, so that returning Afghans to rural areas can stay in their home villages and won't be compelled to move to urban cities.

The project includes 2,850 shelter units in Central Region (Ghazni, Kabul and Parwan), 2,200 in Northern (Baghlan, Kunduz and Takhar), 1,900 in Eastern ( Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar), 900 in Southeast ( Paktya), 800 in West ( Badghis, Farah and Hirat), 700 in South ( Kandahar and Zabul) and 200 in Central Highland (Bamyan and DayKundi).

Of the nearly 10,000 shelter unites planned for this year, some 1,200 are allocated for the families who have recently received plots of land from the government of Afghanistan, including in Barikab and Beniworsik land allocation sites.

UNHCR's shelter program is designed to help the most vulnerable returned refugees and internally displaced persons countrywide. Though not all returnees are considered eligible for shelter assistance, selected families will receive timber for the roof and frames for the windows as well as doors and shelter tool kit to build their houses with.

Since 2002 when UNHCR first launched its shelter program, over 160,000 families (more than 1 million returnees) have benefited. By the end of this year, UNHCR will have provided more than 170,000 vulnerable families with shelter assistance.

Over 300,000 Afghan Refugees Returned

The number of Afghan refugees repatriating from Pakistan and Iran since March 2007 has reached more than 300,000. Most of these refugees have returned from Pakistan to the eastern provinces of Afghanistan while nearly 5,000 have returned from Iran.

The overall figure includes over 200,000 unregistered Afghans who returned during a six week grace period between March and mid April this year announced by the government of Pakistan.

The total number of assisted returns since the operation began in March 2002 stands at over 4 million while at least another 1 million returned spontaneously.