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Pakistan
World & History
A refugee is a person who has fled their country because of war, violence or persecution and cannot safely return.
According to UNHCR, more than 100 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced, including refugees and people displaced within their own countries, because of conflicts in places such as Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar.
Pakistan has hosted one of the largest refugee populations in the world for over four decades, mostly Afghans who began arriving after the Soviet invasion of 1979. Pakistan is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, and since 2023 it has returned large numbers of undocumented Afghans.
The principle of 'non-refoulement' means refugees should not be sent back to a country where they face serious danger.