Afghanistan: Need to minimise new displacement and increase protection for recently displaced in remote areas

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^{31 December 2010}

At least 352,000 people were internally displaced in Afghanistan in December 2010. This figure included people who had been displaced before 2003 and were unable to return home or integrate locally; however IDPs scattered in rural locations and around cities whose status could not be verified were not included. Since 2006, when the armed conflict intensified, the UN and ICRC have registered some 730,000 people as internally displaced by conflict, including 102,000 in 2010.

Armed conflict between Nato-led pro-government forces and Taliban-led insurgent groups in the south, south-east and west has been the most important cause of displacement, with most IDPs fleeing attacks or combat initiated by pro-government forces. Armed conflict, human rights abuses and land and water disputes have also caused significant displacement in other regions left vulnerable by natural disasters, poverty and lack of livelihoods.

Overall, 60 per cent of recently registered IDPs are children; men and women have been displaced in similar numbers, while fewer than two per cent are older people. Many have moved towards the larger cities where they stay with relatives – Afghans’ most important support network – or live in makeshift settlements. Wealthier people tended to seek protection further from their homes, while the most vulnerable, and widows in particular, have often lacked the resources to flee at all.

Roadside bombs, suicide attacks and sporadic clashes took a heavy toll on civilians in provinces affected by displacement in 2010. In February, air strikes by pro-government forces in Uruzgan province killed at least 32 IDPs after they were mistaken for militants. Most landmine victims were returnees or IDPs, according to the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan, and most civilian casualties were people trying to escape battle areas. Male IDPs were at particular risk of forced recruitment, and armed groups continued to sexually abuse children, particularly boys.

IDPs were particularly vulnerable to food insecurity because they often lacked support networks, or had lost their traditional livelihoods and lacked the skills needed to enter a weak labour market. According to Save the Children, 39 per cent of Afghan children were malnourished and 78 per cent had no access to safe water. The situation was worse in provinces affected by displacement, and with insecurity impeding delivery of assistance to IDPs, there were reports of IDPs in urgent need of food and shelter remaining unassisted.

At least 3,500 schools have been built across the country since 2002 and over six million students are enrolled, but the Ministry of Education estimates that in 2010 about five million children had no access to education. This right is particularly threatened in areas affected by displacement, where schools and teachers have been targeted. Up to 80 per cent of schools have been closed in some provinces, with girls’ schools particularly hard hit.

People recently displaced by the conflict have found it difficult to return home after fighting has ended. In Helmand and Kandahar provinces in 2010, continuing insecurity, in particular related to disputes over arable land, slowed return movements. Competing claims over land were complicated by the lack of documentation, and illegal occupation of land heightened ethnic tensions in the central highlands and the north. IDP and refugee returnees whose land was occupied or reallocated in their absence were at particular risk of secondary displacement.

Conflict-induced IDPs have the right in theory to have their houses rebuilt or to receive compensation for damage, but a 2010 investigation by Campaign For Innocent Victims In Conflict showed that in the vast majority of cases, pro- government forces do not pay compensation.

The Afghan government, UN and partners have worked together to facilitate durable solutions for IDPs since 2003, with a focus on resolving the obstacles to return. More than 500,000 people have been helped to return. There have also been successful efforts to support local integration in the south and east, though even IDPs who have achieved economic integration have remained excluded from political participation.

In 2005, a national policy was endorsed which emphasised the promotion of durable solutions through voluntary return and local settlement in accordance with the Guiding Principles. The policy affirmed the lead role of the Afghan government; however, in 2010, the government and its international partners showed insufficient capacity and will to address the displacement crisis. Coordinated by the UNHCR and the Ministry of Refugees and Reintegration through the IDP Task Force, humanitarian agencies working to protect IDPs assisted thousands of people with food, non-food items, basic health services and clean water but did not receive enough backing to provide support to all those in need.

Afghanistan: Thousands of IDPs not reached by humanitarian aid (13 January 2011)

Thousands of IDPs who fled NATO-initiated military operations in Marjah in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province in February 2010 are still unable to return home due to Taliban threats and the presence of improvised explosive devices in their home areas. According to a report by UN OCHA’s IRIN news service, 900 families in the Helmand provincial capital Lashkargah urgently need food and other life-saving assistance to feed their children through the winter. According to IRIN, another 1,600 families displaced by fighting in Kandahar and Helmand were also without assistance. NATO roadblocks and Taliban attacks have prevented civilians from accessing basic health services and humanitarian agencies from distributing food to those in need.

Afghanistan: Insecurity blocks Marjah IDPs' return; professionals flee Kandahar (5 November 2010) 

While NATO forces struggle to build trust with the local population, villagers who fled Marjah in February are still displaced. Most of them hoped to go back home "within a few days" but 15,000 of them say insecurity still prevents them from returning. Intimidation has recently led to new displacements as those who receive NATO assistance in southern Marjah are questioned by the Taliban.  

Insecurity and Taliban threats moreover force professionals to leave Kandahar and take up work elsewhere. The brain drain affects development as public institutions struggle to recruit qualified staff to provide public services.  


Afghanistan: 100,000 civilians fled war in past year; displacements continue in Kandahar (21 October 2010)

According to aid agencies, over 100,000 people have been internally displaced in Afghanistan over the past year. The majority have fled violence in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, but thousands have also been displaced in other parts of the country. Many of them go into longer-term displacement. Aid agencies are prevented from reaching them due to insecurity.  

Meanwhile, international and Afghan troops have been fighting with Taliban insurgents in the outskirts of Kandahar city. ICRC has reported a doubling in the number of people it has treated for weapons-related injuries.The roads have been blocked to prevent combatants fleeing; while most residents have fled the area, it is not clear whether civilians have safe escape routes. Those who have remained have complained that they are trapped between insurgents and international forces, often suffering damages for which they remain uncompensated. 

It is unclear how many IDPs have fled the armed conflict in southern Afghanistan, but a report commissioned by the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement this year argues that they may behundreds of thousands. The report argues that more resources should be invested to prevent displacement and assist those who are forced to flee.


Clashes between NATO and Taliban displace thousands in Kandahar (7 October 2010)

Several thousand people have been displaced in southern Afghanistan by clashes between armed opposition groups and US-led NATO forces. 900 families have been registered by authorities in Kandahar city over the past month, but the Afghan Red Crescent Society expected more displaced families to arrive soon.  Many families left at harvest time, jeopardising their livelihoods if they choose to return. Most have settled with relatives in Kandahar’s slum areas where work is hard to find. It is unclear if any of the displaced people have received humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, the Hazaristan Times has reported that Taliban killings and threats have caused a mass displacement of Hazaras from Baghu-Charm in Uruzgan province to  nearby districts where Hazara are the majority.

The UN and ICRC have recorded that 730,000 people have been internally displaced in Afghanistan due to conflict since 2006, an average of 400 a day. At the end of January 2011, 309,000 people remained internally displaced due to armed conflict, human rights abuses and other generalised violence. This figure was higher than at any time since 2005.

While armed opposition groups have been responsible for the majority of killings, most of the documented mass displacements have occurred as a result of offensives by international forces. Efforts by the International Security Assistance Force in 2010 to limit the impact of fighting on the civilian population have failed to reduce the rate of internal displacement. (...)

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^{11 April 2011}