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In January, UNHCR and partners released the summary of the 2024-2025 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for the Afghanistan situation outlining the strategic priorities partners in Iran and Pakistan will pursue. The evolution of the RRP into a multi-year plan advances multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approaches in support of Afghans and their host communities via community-based interventions, cross-border collaboration, and durable solutions within the framework of the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees. This transition will enable UNHCR and partners to deliver greater opportunities for longer-term resilience, inclusion, and solutions and ensure more predictable funding. The proposed activities in 2024-2025 will be supported by over 50 partners: 13 UN agencies, 19 international nongovernmental organizations and 19 national non-governmental organizations. The inter-agency funding appeal for 2024 amounts to $620 million which is needed to provide protection and assistance to some 7.3 million people. The full RRP will be released in the coming weeks.

In January, a joint senior-level mission from UNHCR HQ and RBAP visited Afghanistan and Pakistan to assess UNHCRs cross-border response. The delegation included the Director for International Protection, Director for the Division of Emergency, Security and Supply, Head of Protection Service for the Asia-Pacific region and Chief of Section (Staff Welfare). During the visit to Pakistan from 17 to 21 January, the delegation met with legal aid partners and visited a Proof of Registration Card Modification Centre, Voluntary Repatriation Centre and a UNHCR warehouse in Peshawar. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the delegation met with the provincial authorities and refugees, including new arrivals. In Islamabad, the delegation met with several donors, partners, and government counterparts, including the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry for States and Frontier Regions, to discuss the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan and proposed screening mechanism for new arrivals. From 21 to 24 January, the delegation was in Afghanistan and paid courtesy visits to the Acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation and Acting Director General of UN/International Conferences at the de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Jalalabad, the delegation met with several stakeholders, including the Acting Deputy Governor of Nangarhar Province and the Acting Director of the Department of Refugees and Repatriation, and visited the Torkham border and reception facilities.

The number of returnees entering Afghanistan from Pakistan continued to decline with over 500,000 returns recorded since 15 September 2023. In Afghanistan, UNHCR continued to biometrically process and provide cash assistance to Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders and their nuclear family members, UNHCR slip holders, asylum seeker certificate holders and other protection referrals. Since 15 September 2023, some 77,500 individuals who returned from Pakistan have been provided with cash assistance in Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad Encashment Centres, including over 45,000 PoR card holders. It is expected that returns will take up again shortly. For more information, please see the latest External Update.

In Iran, the UNHCR donated life-saving medical equipment to Shohadaye Tajrish Public Hospital, as part of a $30 million multi-year procurement programme aimed at making healthcare more accessible to refugees and host communities. The handover ceremony was attended by the UNHCR Representative and officials from the National Organization for Migration of the Ministry of Interior UNHCRs main operational government counterpart and Ministry of Health and Medical Education. In addition to this, UNHCR donated 18 ambulances and five mobile laboratories.

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UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific (RBAP): External Update: Afghanistan Situation #32, As of 1 February ... - ReliefWeb