Afghanistan Visual Mission: Refugees returning from Europe under pressure, but going into business with IOM help
During more than two decades of civil war millions of Afghans fled the country seeking safety in Iran, Pakistan, and other countries around the world. With the fall of the Taliban the refugees have been coming back in large numbers. In Kabul, Refugees International spoke to several refugees who recently returned from Europe. "I had a choice," said one refugee who recently returned from Denmark. "I could stay in Denmark in a closed camp or I could return to Afghanistan." He described conditions in the closed camp which made it appear to be very similar to a prison. Similar closed camps are said to exist in other European countries. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has programs to assist refugees returning - or being forced to return - from Europe. We met with several small businessmen who have benefited from grants from IOM to enable them to start businesses in Kabul. IOM, with financing from the European Union, has helped about 100 small businessmen in the last few months. Some of the former refugees described their return to Afghanistan as voluntary; others said they had been forced to return when their status as refugees was revoked by European governments.
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Afghanistan 2004 - Booming Construction in Kabul
07/22/2004
The construction business in Kabul is booming as people rebuild their homes and businesses destroyed during the civil war of the mid-1990s. The city is also expanding as more than 800,000 refugees from abroad have returned to Kabul during the last two years. A refugee recently returned from Europe was helped by IOM to start a carpentry shop and is now contracted to do the woodwork in one of these new houses. Narcodollars and the large international aid presence in Kabul have also contributed to the construction boom.
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