Afghan refugees and Migrants: Humanitarian Response in Pakistan 25th SDC’s Press Release/B4/B5 Afghan Refugees & fiscal space

ISLAMABAD (imrana komal): Pakistan needs to deal with the issue of Afghan refugees on humanitarian grounds and enact domestic laws to become a signatory to the international conventions for being the largest host country of refugees.
This was stated by experts at a panel discussion titled: ‘Afghan Refugees and Migrants: Humanitarian Response in Pakistan,” on the third day of 25th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and jointly held alongside UNESCAP’s 6th South and South-West Asia High-level Political Forum and Policy Dialogue on SDGs. The 4-day conference is being held in Islamabad from 5-8 December 2022.
Experts said that negligence in terms of policy had invariably affected the Afghan refugees in terms of their identity recognition, income means, and citizenship that has caused serious damage to their psychological condition leading to stress and depression.

Former senator Afrasiab Khattak said since partition, Pakistan has been actively hosting refugees from different countries such as India, Barma , Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Pakistan strongly needs legislation at domestic forum to fill the legal vacuum created in the Afghan refugees’ issue. Repatriation, relocation, and absorption are the factors that should be focused in policy making. “The dilemma is that with times new terms like Temporary Dispersed Persons (TDPs) from IDPs have been introduced as they are not recognized as refugees.” Media needs to play an active role in voicing the Afghan refugees’ miseries, he said, adding that this nation is in exile and demands that it should be looked on humanitarian grounds. The government should revise its Afghan policy for refugees to overcome their miseries, he added.
Ms. Ayesha Khan. Country Director, Hashu Foundation, said according to UNHCR report, 90% of Afghan refugees are hosted by Pakistan and Iran. SSAR solution strategy established in 2012 was a proactive step taken by global community to assist Afghan refugees and host countries. The government should work on initiatives for refugees with the lens of sustainable development. Such massive and prolong sustenance of Afghan Refugees has somehow also threatened the local Communities developing insecurities in them . Management mechanisms should facilitate the sustenance of refugees.International communities need to acknowledge the efforts made by host country for catering such a large population even with limited resources. Pakistan should also showcase its effort globally.
Ms Safiya Aftab, Verso Consulting (Pvt)Ltd said after the Taliban regime Pakistan being the host country of Refugees had to go through a large influx in terms of migrants, the need of hour is to formulate a domestic policy in order to cater the basic needs of health , education and sustenance for them .Such large number of undocumented Refugees have started to enter the internal economic mainly as low income migrant households . She said Pakistan design an effective policy to document these existing issues . Apart from granting some medical , transit and substantial visas on humanitarian grounds , a strong policy would surely ensure the sustenance needs of Refugees.###

Title: Strengthening Means of Implementation to Advance Progress on the SDGs: Financing for Development
Major reforms key to enhance funding for SDGs agenda: Rana Ihsan
ISLAMABAD, (December 07, 2022): Rana Ihsan Afzal, Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Commerce and Industries, has said that the government will have to introduce drastic reforms in various sectors to create fiscal space for financing the SDGs agenda.
He was speaking at a session titled: “Strengthening Means of Implementation to Advance Progress on the SDGs: Financing for Development”, on the third day of 25th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), jointly held alongside UNESCAP’s 6th South and Southwest Asia High-level Political Forum and Policy Dialogue on SDGs. The 4-day conference is being held in Islamabad from 5-8 December 2022.
He suggested increasing tax to GDP ratio from 8.5% to 15% and for raising tax revenues and streamlining State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as majority among the 200 SOEs are at a loss. He further said that our crop yields are very low and must be brought at par with the international standards to minimize the import pressure on the country.
Former Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said: “We also need to create fiscal space as much as possible to promote SDGs agenda.” She underlined that the challenge of limited financing resources is one of the biggest impediments in the way of achieving SDGs. “If the rich nations had raised trillions of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic, why they cannot raise such kind of funding to support the developing countries with regard to the SDGs.
Dr Hamza Malik, Director, Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division, ESCAP, said “Pakistan needs 17% of GDP worth of financing to effectively pursue the GDP agenda, however, the actual funding for the purpose is only 1% that is alarming.” He said that Asia incurred loss of over $2 trillion during pandemic from 2020-22.
Pema Tshewang, Senior Planning Officer, District Administration, Lhuentse (Bhutan) said several emergency measures have been taken in Bhutan, including revision of tourism policy, launch of national coverage scheme to promote business, accountability and tax reforms. He stressed on promoting international and regional cooperation to support developing countries in achieving SDGs agenda.
Kewal Prasad Bhandari, Secretary for National Planning Commission, Nepal called for structural transformation and increasing financing for resource mobilization to effectively pursue the SDGs agenda.
Priyantha Ratnayake, Deputy Secretary Treasury, Sri Lanka said that domestic resources of developing countries are insufficient to finance SDGs Agenda and urged the international development partners to come forward with emergency fundings like those mobilized in COVID-19.
Sameena Nazir, President of PODA Pakistan, said: “The government of Pakistan and the UN should see NGOs as their righthand allies and not their enemies.” She said achieving SDGs is among the core aims of majority NGOs, which is hurdled by funding restrictions on NGOs imposed by the government