Pakistan: Islamabad: The emergency cash programme for vulnerable refugee families during the COVID-19 pandemic continued to be rolled out across Pakistan, with the support of the Government of Pakistan and in collaboration with the Pakistan Post. Both urban areas and refugee villages were covered.

Pakistan: Islamabad: UNHCR organized a number of virtual activities to mark the annual World Refugee Day on 20 June. Among them was a special virtual event convened on 19 June to commemorate the courage and resilience of refugees and host communities responding to the COVID-19 pandemic “on the front lines”. Multimedia content specifically tailored to mark this day was featured and shared on social media channels.

Pakistan: Islamabad: A meeting of the Friends of the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees was convened by the Ambassador of Germany to Pakistan, His Excellency Mr. Bernhard Schlagheck, on 24 June 2020. The following issues were discussed: UNHCR Pakistan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Refugee Forum, the Refugee Summit Islamabad, as well as the Support Platform for the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees and its forthcoming Portfolio of Projects.

Pakistan: Peshawar: In mid-August 2020, UNHCR and its partner, Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), handed over coveralls – produced by Afghan refugees – to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Peshawar. This initiative responded to the call to create livelihood opportunities to refugees. Skilled Afghan refugee tailors stitched the coveralls and non-medical face masks, and were able to earn from each item stitched.

Pakistan: Islamabad: In the month of November, UNHCR Director for Regional Bureau of Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Indrika Ratwatte, visited Pakistan. Mr. Ratwatte, paid a courtesy call to Foreign Secretary, Mr. Sohail Mahmood, Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador (R) Mohammad Sadiq, Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Najibullah Alikhil, Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Mr. Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan during his visit. Mr. Ratwatte, met with the Country Director of the World Bank, Ambassador of Germany and Switzerland, and the representatives of various key donors.

Pakistan: Islamabad: In the months of November and December, UNHCR with the support of other UN agencies and partners arranged activities to mark the 16 Days of Activism campaign.

Pakistan: Karachi: UNHCR handed over blankets, sleeping mates, jerrycans, and plastic sheets to the National Disaster Management Authority for onward distribution to Pakistani communities who were affected by floods and rainfall in Karachi and other parts of the Sindh province. UNHCR also supported Afghan refugees in Karachi.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the launch today of a country-wide campaign in Pakistan to verify and update the data of some 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees and to issue them with smart identity cards. The last large-scale verification of refugees in the country was undertaken 10 years ago. Registered refugees will be issued new smartcards with the capacity to hold biometric data. These cards, which will be valid for two years, will also be technologically compatible with systems used in Pakistan to authenticate the identities of nationals to access services.

Document Renewal and Identity Verification Exercise (DRIVE) is taking place across the country. In terms of overall progress, the primary implementation of DRIVE is now approaching 20 per cent and more than a quarter of a million interviews have been completed. To date, a total of 258,815 individuals (49,966 families) have been verified or newly recorded since the launch of DRIVE. A cumulative total of 38,904 PoR cards have been distributed from 34 sites.