Aid community establishing camps in Northern Afghanistan

Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 21 June 2001-- The situation of vulnerable communities in northern Afghanistan is getting worse and is of great concern to the aid community. In a recent report, the United Nations Regional Co-ordinator for Mazar called for immediate action to avert the massive catastrophe that is in the making in northern Afghanistan. People are suffering because of war, drought, and widespread poverty that is, itself, an outcome of the deepening crisis. Afghans who are still in their places of origin suffer the effects of drought and the absence of alternative means of income. Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their villages because of war, drought, or a combination of these.
The aid community is doing its utmost to help alleviate the situation. Assistance to the displaced and to the non-displaced in their areas of origin has been forthcoming and is continuing. The World Food Programme is currently distributing 4,500 metric tonnes of food each month in the north, an amount that is expected to increase to 6,500 tonnes. However, it is clear that aid efforts to date are not enough. Aid personnel are concerned about the increasing scale of the crisis throughout Afghanistan and say that much more needs to be done to head off a catastrophe. Shortages of non-food items, cash, and staff are particularly acute.

In the north, families' resources have been stretched to the limit or have been exhausted, Families are resorting to eating famine foods, giving away their daughters at greatly reduced bride prices and at a young age, and sending young men outside the country to find work. In some areas, malnutrition rates are on the rise, as are diseases associated with poor nutrition, such as scurvy.

"Some of these families have coped for as long as they can. Now, they are simply at the end of their rope," said Antonio Donini, Deputy United Nations Co-ordinator.

Due to both repeated population movements, with some displaced persons having moved at least twice, and lack of capacity in the assistance community, exact numbers of the displaced in the north are unavailable. However, within the last five weeks, tens of thousands of people have entered Mazar City. These displaced persons had formerly found shelter around Mazar City with host families, whose assets have now in some cases become exhausted.

Previously, the aid community in northern Afghanistan discouraged establishment of large centralised IDP camps and encouraged IDPs to stay where they were, hosted by local families or living in abandoned but destroyed mud shelters or in different kinds of makeshift shelters. This lack of concentration of the vulnerable made it difficult for the humanitarian community to evenly assist scattered IDP populations. Due to gaps in providing assistance, living conditions have deteriorated. Worst affected are those displaced who are living in makeshift, spontaneous, camps, some of whom lack access to shelter and drinking water. These families are at high risk of disease and increased mortality.

Presently, it is believed that at least 150,000 people are displaced in the north, although this number seems to be rising dramatically. The aid community in the north is now engaged in helping some of these families move into more structured camps, which will initially be set up near Mazar, in Balkh Province, and in Baghlan Province. In each of the two locations, 5,000 families will be accommodated in camps that will be supported by the aid community and the local authorities. Various agencies will take responsibility for water, sanitation, health, nutrition, food, shelter, education, security, winterisation, and necessary non-food items.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as a whole is in a sharp downwards spiral that will continue until at least next summer. Since summer 2000, over one million Afghans have left their homes. Over 700,000 of them are internally displaced in Afghanistan. In the course of 2001, the United Nations believes that the number of internally displaced Afghans will top one million.

For further information please contact: Stephanie Bunker, Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, 92 51 2211451 x 415; mobile 0320 4261325