Urgent funding needed for large scale displacement in Afghanistan

Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 12 January 2001 -- In view of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, coupled with severe shortages of non-food items for the displaced, Erick de Mul, United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, on Thursday called an emergency meeting of donors to Afghanistan. He asked them to respond immediately to the 2001 Appeal for Afghanistan, and specifically to provide USD 3.5 million for non-food items including shelter, blankets, clothing, USD 3.2 million in cash to complement food for work programmes, and USD 600,000 for seeds.
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has continued in the downward spiral witnessed during the year 2000. Because of lack of resources, the aid community is facing the taxing task of deciding who gets a share of the little that exists to be handed out.

Since summer last year, about 470,000 people have left their homes, and most of these families are internally displaced inside Afghanistan. This total represents only new internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2000/2001 and does not include at least 100,000 old IDPs from 1999, such as those in Kabul, Panjshir, or northern Hazarajat, or the many layers of displaced people over the years who have sought safety in Kabul. This number also does not take into account all displacement that is likely to have occurred, such as within remote districts to other remote districts (e.g. Ghor); into urban centres but outside of camps (e.g. Herat); or into Iran. This estimate is, if anything, on the low side.

Those who have migrated or who have become refugees are those who have had sufficient assets to pay for their transport. As poor as their condition may be in the areas in which they have found themselves, there is a huge population left behind in many drought stricken areas, who were unable to make the same move. Their prospects may be even dimmer than those of their compatriots.

The plan of the aid community in Afghanistan has been to try to assist families in their areas of origin to prevent them from becoming either internally displaced or refugees. Where it could be implemented, this plan has worked well. However, the depth and breadth of both drought and conflict have resulted in population movements, in the establishment of formal IDP camps (Herat), and in congregations of displaced families in public buildings or accommodated with local people.

It is now feared that displacement will continue into various areas of the country, and across international borders, for at least the next several months, increasing the total numbers of displaced, and resulting in yet more requirements for both food and non-food items. These needs will be compounded in view of the dismal economic situation in many urban areas, the non-availability of wage labour, and the severe decline in wage labour rates far below subsistence levels. Drought displaced persons, especially those in camps, will therefore constitute an unusually highly dependent population. Of special concern is the vulnerable situation of women-headed households and children

This level of dependency will continue and will be exacerbated and prolonged, for many, by inability to return home. Alarming reports have indicated that many of the displaced have extricated themselves from desperate situations by selling their last remaining assets, including their agricultural implements, livestock, and draft animals.

Of even greater concern, in the short to medium term, is the seed deficit in the country. In some areas, planting is only one month away, yet many farmers and displaced persons indicate that they do not have enough seeds to plant for the 2001 harvest. While coping with the overall national seed deficit is beyond the capacity of the assistance community, it would still be possible to help thousands of the most impoverished farmers to return to the land and obtain wheat seed to plant on a subsistence basis if donor funds were forthcoming. Repeated requests for cash for seed since summer 2000 have met with virtually no response. The Food and Agriculture Organisation is requesting US$600,000 to purchase 2000 tons of seed for these displaced farming families. While this will not meet all needs, it would help some families get back on their feet again.

The details of displacement are summarised as follows:

• In the northeast (Takhar and Badakhshan), recent assessments (WFP and ACTED) indicate that there are now approximately 14,000 needy families displaced due to conflict, compared to the earlier 11,000. This is an increase from 77,000 to 98,000 individuals.
• Stranded on the islands between Afghanistan and Tajikistan is a displaced population of 10,000 people, comprising civilians mixed with fighters. They are not currently accessible from Afghanistan, and are not easily accessible from Tajikistan. So far, the government of Tajikistan has withstood all appeals to provide the civilians among this group, including the ill, asylum in Tajikistan. Their need for assistance and protection is real; however, the aid community is extremely limited in the extent to which it can assist a group comprised of civilians and combatants.
• In northern region/Mazar, there are approximately 100,000 civilians displaced by drought and/or conflict. This number includes at least 7,800 families (over 46,000 people) displaced by conflict in Kunduz and Baghlan Provinces. Accurate assessments are proving difficult given shifting front lines, as well as old IDP caseloads in the area from 1999. Recent assessments in Faryab indicate that coping mechanisms in some districts are exhausted, and that child mortality is at 5.2 per 10,000.
• 45,000 people have left Hazarajat for other locations; of these, over 70% are families who intend to become refugees, mainly in Iran. The scale of this exodus is, however, modest relative to the severity of the drought and the food security crisis in the area. In fact, most hungry people have stayed in the region and have not migrated. Their lack of purchasing power means that they cannot buy adequate food on the market. It is therefore inevitable that they will "cope" by reducing their consumption of food. A severe food security crisis in Hazarajat seems inevitable, and it is likely to peak during the late winter and spring of 2001.
• In Herat, there are currently 80,000 IDPs in six camps, who have come from Badghis, Ghor, as well as Faryab. About 80 new families, or 500 people, continue to arrive every day. Food provided to these IDPs has been limited, while shelter, blankets, and warm clothes are urgently needed. Currently families are being accommodated by squeezing three families into one tent. Recent information indicates that some new arrivals are coming from areas of Badghis not covered under WFP's food distribution; food aid is now being extended to new areas of Badghis Province.
• In southern Afghanistan, a population of some 10,000 kochi families, comprising 70,000 people, is scattered in settlements in various provinces. These families are receiving one time food assistance from WFP, while there is an identified need for both tents and warm clothing.
• Finally, the most recent estimates indicate that 68,000 Afghan refugees have crossed into Pakistan since September, including both NWFP and Balochistan.

For further information, please contact: Stephanie Bunker, Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, 2211451 x 415; 0320 261325