NEW ISSUES IN REFUGEE RESEARCH-Working Paper No. 65
These working papers provide a means for UNHCR staff, consultants, interns and associates to publish the preliminary results of their research on refugee-related issues. The papers do not represent the official views of UNHCR. They are also available online under 'publications' at <www.unhcr.ch>.

ISSN 1020-7473

Introduction

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (UNHCR) - "I want to go back but I am afraid," she said, waiting as her mother registered the family of 15 at Takhtabaig Voluntary Repatriation Centre near Peshawar, western Pakistan.
"I am afraid because I cannot forget the way we left Kabul," explained Khalida, 22, an Afghan refugee who had been living in Pakistan for almost eight years.

Recalling the terrifying circumstances that led to flight from Kabul in the pre-Taliban days, when Afghanistan's capital was being torn apart by different mujaheddin groups battling for

Kris Janowski - Media Relations
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva.

1) High Commissioner in Afghanistan

High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers ended his two day visit to Kandahar today following a visit to UNHCR's temporary camp at Zhare Dasht and several makeshift sites sheltering internally displaced Afghans encamped around the southern border town of Spin Boldak. He was joined by Afghnanistan's Minister of Repatriation, Enayatullah Nazari.

Kris Janowski - Media Relations
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva.

1) HIGH COMMISSIONER TRAVELS TO AFGHANISTAN

High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers leaves today for a five-day mission to Afghanistan, his second trip to the country this year. He arrives in Kabul tomorrow, where he plans to meet President Karzai and other officials in the Transitional Authority.

On Monday Mr. Lubbers leaves for Kandahar, where he will look at the situation facing displaced Afghans in the south

KOSOVO (UNHCR) - Just one week after returning to Binçë, a village in the Klinë municipality in Pejë, Nebojsa Doncic, 41, the elected leader of a group of Serb returnees, says quietly but surely, "Somehow, we have already started life anew."
After three years of exile in Serbia, the convoy of 14 Kosovo Serbs, assisted by the UN refugee agency and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), headed back to their village in late July. While their houses are being rebuilt, the returnees are living in UNHCR tents pitched with the help of the international troops

Kris Janowski - Media Relations
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva.

1) CAMBODIA/PROTEST

UNHCR has formally expressed grave concern to the Cambodian authorities over the reported deportation of two Chinese Falun Gong practitioners earlier this month and the disappearance last month from Cambodia of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk - all three persons deemed to be in need of international protection by UNHCR.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Guojun and

GENEVA - The United Nations High Commissioner for refugees today (Friday) hailed the decision by the Sri Lankan government to begin direct peace talk with Tamil Tiger rebels. "The announcement carries a huge potential promise of return for hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by the Sri Lankan conflict" said High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers.
The Norwegian government, which has played a mediation role in negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, announced on Wednesday

KAMPALA, Uganda, August 16 (UNHCR) - More than 20,000 Sudanese refugees who fled a rebel attack in northern Uganda could be relocated to a permanent new camp in western Uganda as soon as next week as the UN refugee agency steps up efforts to move them to safety.
UNHCR is sending four international emergency staff members to Uganda to supervise the final phase of relocating refugees who survived the August 5 rebel attack on Achol-Pii camp in northern Uganda.

The first phase of the relocation saw some 17,000 displaced refugees trekking overnight from Rachkoko, near Achol-Pii,

KABUL, August 15 (UNHCR) -- The UN refugee agency today started moving Afghans stranded at the Pakistan border to an interim haven in southern Afghanistan. This comes as returns to Afghanistan crossed 1.5 million, almost double the 800,000 refugees UNHCR had initially planned to assist home this year.
On Thursday, 466 Afghans who had volunteered to leave a desolate, windswept encampment at Chaman, on Pakistan's frontier with southern Afghanistan, boarded 20 UNHCR-hired trucks and were relocated to a recently-prepared site at Zhare Dasht, 30 km west of Kandahar.