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The Taliban's recent seizure of Kabul and overall control of the country has once again led many Afghans to flee their country. With more than 2.67 million Afghans registered as refugees worldwide (as of 2020), and possibly more to come, Afghans are the second-largest refugee population after Syrians. Their displacement began more than 40 years ago, many of whom have taken refuge in Pakistan, which has 1.4 million Afghans registered with UNHCR as refugees (UNHCR, 2020) and more than 800,000 registered with the government of Pakistan. Close to one million Afghans remain undocumented in Pakistan. Based on substantive empirical research with Afghan refugees and experts in Pakistan (see TRAFIG working paper 7), the authors argue that ending the protracted displacement of Afghans in Pakistan requires a change in Pakistani policies. The Pakistani Government should issue a national refugee law that provides future certainty for registered Afghans, or transform Pakistan's current protection system into a generous visa regulation system for Afghans Whichever course of action is taken, the following outcomes are crucial: Afghans with protection needs should have the option to undergo UNHCR-administered Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures and be able to apply for asylum in Pakistan. All Afghans should have the right to mobility, not only throughout Pakistan but also across the border to keep up relationships in Afghanistan and beyond. Afghans residing in Pakistan for more than 10 years and those who were born in Pakistan to Afghan parents should be eligible for Pakistani citizenship. ; TRAFIG Practice Note No. 7

Jordan and Pakistan are among the countries that host the most refugees worldwide - refugees who come from countries facing protracted conflicts with no end in sight. TRAFIG research at multiple sites in Jordan and urban Pakistan (con ducted before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021) found that, despite myriad challenges, many refugees are mobile - and they are using this mobility to unlock a range of opportunities. However, the potential benefits of mobility are far from being fully leveraged. This policy brief examines how and why refugees are moving after their initial displacement and suggests how policymakers in the region and elsewhere, in collaboration with humanitarian, development and integration stakeholders, can help Afghans and Syrians tap into outward mobility to improve their upward mobility.

Pakistan currently hosts up to three million Afghans, a number that is likely to increase due to the Taliban's recent return to power in Afghanistan. This working paper is based on empirical research on the experience of Afghan displacement in Pakistan from 2019 until early 2021 as part of the European Union funded TRAFIG project. Findings show that Afghans' protracted displacement is classed. Many low-skilled, low-income and largely non-educated Afghans experience barriers to upward social mobility, particularly leading the Afghan youth to consider migrating to Europe. First-generation Afghan refugees who migrated mainly in the 1980s and 1990s prefer to stay in Pakistan; only few would return if the conditions allowed it. While aiming to incentivise return, Pakistani government policies hamper the opportunity for Afghans to move around within and beyond Pakistan and remain connected to their translocal and transnational networks. Many Afghan refugees have family members who live in other parts of Pakistan or in other countries, but the potential of these networks to lift those in Pakistan out of protracted displacement is limited. We also found that social cohesion between Afghan refugees and the Pakistani host society has been decreasing. Local networks are highly significant in day-to-day life, but intergroup relations do not yield any emancipatory potential for Afghans. Afghans' presence in Pakistan needs to be reconsidered by all actors, namely the country of origin, host and donor countries. The current approach of 'administering Afghans' keeps them in protracted displacement without the opportunity to integrate legally or sustainably. It needs to be replaced with a new narrative and operational approach - one that acknowledges Afghans' contributions to Pakistan's economy, society and culture, and that secures their right to remain in Pakistan. Such an approach is particularly important today given the looming prospect of more Afghans entering Pakistan to escape from living under a government headed by the Taliban.

This working paper explores the governance of protracted displacement across global, regional and domestic levels in the context of the project "Transnational Figurations of Displacement" (TRAFIG). Themultiple contemporary crises that have led to forced displacement show not only the limits of a tight definition of 'refugee' but also highlight the gaps in international protection frameworks. A significant number of those forcibly displaced are in protracted displacement situations. This paper is an effort to make sense of the legislative and policy frameworks of protection that apply globally, regionally and domestically, and the way in which these frameworks facilitate or hinder solutions for people in protracted displacement. We evaluate how these frameworks contribute (directly or indirectly) to resolving or creating protracted displacement, assess how they contribute to relevant policy developments and identify engagement trends and (unintended) effects. Along the way, we also draw comparative insights across different global, regional and domestic levels, including eight different countries that host large groups of displaced people and are the focus of the TRAFIG project: Greece, Germany and Italy in Europe; Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania in Africa; and Jordan and Pakistan in Asia. We explore some selected gaps in the current systems of governance of displacement while concentrating on three key perspectives: governing protection, exercising rights and accessing services, and mobility and transnational dimensions of displacement. We conclude with ten key messages regarding the shortcomings of the current governance system of displacement. They highlight the need for stronger stakeholder collaboration, integration of global and local policies, enhanced focus on IDPs, investment in progressive regional policies, redesign of EU policies to avoid promotion of protracted displacement, greater ownership of processes and resources, de-politicisation of displacement policies, ...

This working paper explores the governance of protracted displacement across global, regional and domestic levels in the context of the project "Transnational Figurations of Displacement" (TRAFIG). The multiple contemporary crises that have led to forced displacement show not only the limits of a tight definition of 'refugee' but also highlight the gaps in international protection frameworks. A significant number of those forcibly displaced are in protracted displacement situations. This paper is an effort to make sense of the legislative and policy frameworks of protection that apply globally, regionally and domestically, and the way in which these frameworks facilitate or hinder solutions for people in protracted displacement. We evaluate how these frameworks contribute (directly or indirectly) to resolving or creating protracted displacement, assess how they contribute to relevant policy developments and identify engagement trends and (unintended) effects. Along the way, we also draw comparative insights across different global, regional and domestic levels, including eight different countries that host large groups of displaced people and are the focus of the TRAFIG project: Greece, Germany and Italy in Europe; Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania in Africa; and Jordan and Pakistan in Asia. We explore some selected gaps in the current systems of governance of displacement while concentrating on three key perspectives: governing protection, exercising rights and accessing services, and mobility and transnational dimensions of displacement. We conclude with ten key messages regarding the shortcomings of the current governance system of displacement. They highlight the need for stronger stakeholder collaboration, integration of global and local policies, enhanced focus on IDPs, investment in progressive regional policies, redesign of EU policies to avoid promotion of protracted displacement, greater ownership of processes and resources, de-politicisation of displacement policies, alignment of durable solutions with development-oriented interventions and realisation of the development potential of refugee integration. They also focus on mobility and translocal connectivity as a fourth durable solution to protracted displacement.