UN High Commissioner for Refugees is going to facilitate 1.4 million biometric ID cards for Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The government of Pakistan and the United Nations have planned to distribute 1.4 million biometric ID cards, while the UN will verify 8000 Afghan refugees a day. The goal behind doing so is to provide the refugees with dependable identification within a year. UN High Commissioner posted an online document for Refugees, according to which, “UNHCR has a plan to facilitate the Afghan refugees (POR – proof of registration cardholders) – by verifying and receiving new biometric documentation (smartcard IDs) from the Government of Pakistan by 2021,”
It also revealed that the key plans of UNHCR are to ensure the betterment of the Afghan refugees amid 2021 through numerous initiatives related to education, health, and others, etc.
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Moreover, the UNHCR Pakistan document adds that 61,500 refugee children would be enrolled under UNHCR during 2021 and would be provided with access to primary education. These children will be given education in 137 schools, while 54 refugee villages will be set up across the country.
It would not be out of place to mention here that Pakistan had been hosting around 1.4 million refugees for at least 40 years. It is the largest number of refugees that the country is hosting. The statement further says that the UNHCR appreciated the compassion as the country had been hosting the Afghan refugees for the last four decades.
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However, according to the world body, the United Nations spends around 4 million dollars on software and smart card development for the 2021 campaign. The old version of ID cards was referred to as the proof of registration (PoR) which were distributed 10 years back. But those cards were expired in 2015, still, the government continued to accept them.
