Afghan Displaced Persons: Resettlement, Reintegration and Repatriation

At the commencement of the 21st century, a visible change is occurring in human relationship, but several areas still demand initiation of new developments, ideas, concepts along with practices for a discernible shift in global society. The idea of belonging is one of those concepts, which needs redefinition on the basis of existing positions and experiences of asylum seekers, refugees, displaced persons and migrants. The 'battlefield' for ending the cold war rivalry of superpowers, once again has become an arena for the war on terror, bringing massive destruction to the population at the hands of warring parties. Millions of lives perish due to fratricidal fighting and a huge number of persons are displaced and forced to live in camps. The statistics of the Afghan government and the UNHCR indicate that half a million people are still internally displaced due to continued conflict, violence and prevalent human rights' violation. Majority of such persons are living in camps or camp-like settings for decades and it is an alarming fact that displaced persons are 'more vulnerable and worse-off than the urban poor' who face insufficient housing or shortage of livelihood due to unemployment while displaced persons are facing numerous issues like insecurity, forced eviction, unemployment, poverty and repatriation due to ongoing conflicts. The paper analyzes all these aspects.