NRC Pakistan (07.05.2010)
In April the NRC ICLA team with support from UNHCR opened two Welfare and Legal Centres in the NWFP capital, Peshawar. The Centres have been strategically located where many of the remaining IDPs are accommodated and where many newly displaced persons will seek refuge.
The IDPs live side by side with approximately 1 million Afghan refugees, who, living in camps and clusters will also be able to benefit from the assistance provided through these Centres.
The project will assist the Pakistani local authorities working for the IDPs in finding durable solutions such as return and reintegration, through informative work as well as simple assistance on access to ID cards, means of accessing compensation, identification of legal cases, assistance to the survivors of gender-based violence (GBV); and accessing local mechanisms to solve any land and property disputes. It is important to note that ICLA does not seek to provide any assistance outside the established legal framework of Pakistan but merely facilitate the use of such established mechanisms.
ICLA is aiming to provide information and legal services that will benefit IDPs who will receive information relevant to return and rehabilitation and will receive direct assistance through legal and administrative services to assist them to return or resettle. This assistance will be provided under the new updated Return, Rehabilitation and Resettlement framework by the Government as the post emergency phase in this area.
The Centres will function as information hubs providing key social services and serving as bases for NRC mobile teams to service communities in the respective areas. To the greatest extent possible, the beneficiary claims will be resolved directly in the Centres or in their areas of residence by the mobile teams. The Centres will also serve as hubs for networks bringing together a variety of operational/implementing partners reaching out to these communities.
The NRC sees this as an essential part of not only the return process but also in support of IDPs that cannot return due to the security situation in their places of origin. NRC will strive to expand this initiative to NWFP and FATA areas of return in the coming months.