Pakistan

The trend of decreasing political violence in South and Southeast Asia continued, while at the same time the number of reported fatalities slightly increased. The overall number of riots and protest events in South and Southeast Asia also increased last week compared to the previous week.

Since mid-September, conflict has escalated between the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces and the Taliban in Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan and Balkh provinces. Parliamentary elections will be held on 20 October and violence will likely continue in the runup to the vote. An unknown number of people have been displaced in the affected provinces.

Highlights

562,341 total returns from Iran and Pakistan since 01 Jan 2018

537,710 total returns from Iran since 01 Jan 2018

24,631 total returns from Pakistan since 01 Jan 2018

15,664 undocumented Afghans returned from Iran

969 undocumented Afghans returned from Pakistan

3% of returnees from Iran (474 individuals) assisted

89% of returnees from Pakistan (859 individuals) assisted

Situation Overview

Africa

Cameroon

10 August 2018: In Bamenda city, Mezam department, Northwest province, an ambulance belonging to the Bamenda Regional Hospital was shot at by either national military personnel or Ambazonian fighters, seriously wounding a nurse, and slightly injuring the driver. Source: Cameroon-Info

Côte d’Ivoire

F.P. Report

THARPARKAR: As many as two more children succumbed to malnutrition in Tharparkar region of Sindh and raised the death toll to 28 for this month.

According to details, the toll of children dying for various reasons in Sindh’s Tharparker region continues and the health department told that the deaths took place at Civil Hospital, Mithhi with the deceased including an infant and a three-year-old.

The recent deaths of two children take the death toll in Tharparker to 28 for this month and 454 this year.

By Peerzada Mohammad Amin

Separatist groups ordered shopkeepers in Indian Kashmir to close their businesses Monday to protest the killings of at least eight suspected militants by security forces last week, along with five more rebels and a civilian in weekend violence.

On Monday morning, an Indian soldier was fatally shot in the disputed Himalayan region, officials said, as authorities beefed up security across Jammu and Kashmir state to prevent anti-India protests and maintain order.

UNHCR’S SELF–RELIANCE AND LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME

In recent years, UNHCR has given increased priority to promoting self-reliance for refugees and other persons of concern (PoCs)*.

Self-reliance is a vital part of enhancing refugees’ protection, empowerment, and resilience. It is a cross-cutting theme described throughout UNHCR’s Strategic Directions 2017-2021, and highlighted in the High Commissioner’s guidance to prepare annual plans for 2019.

September 16, 2018 6:33 PM
Ayaz Gul

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an unprecedented announcement Sunday, pledged to offer Pakistani citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Afghans born to refugee families his country has been hosting for decades.

The United Nations refugee agency and local officials say there are 2.7 million Afghans, including 1.5 million registered as refugees, in Pakistan. The displaced families have fled decades of conflict, ethnic and religious persecution, poverty and economic hardships in turmoil-hit Afghanistan.

Overview

In August, 52,637 eligible refugees and asylum-seekers (25,006 households) received cash assistance in Greece, in 95 locations.

• Since the start of the new academic year on 03 September, local and central authorities successfully enrolled refugee/migrant children into a second year of public schooling. Consolidated efforts to secure comprehensive enrolment of all refugee/migrant children also resulted in greatly increased enrolment in public pre-schools and institutions of secondary education.

Key issues in the past week:

• Fighting across the country displaced more than 6,700 people, according to initial reports.

• 66,000 people affected by conflict and drought received humanitarian aid in six provinces.

• A health facility in Khogyani, Nangarhar, was reportedly severely damaged in fighting.

6,700 New IDPs reported in the past week

225,166 Total verified IDPs in 2018

66,000 People assisted in the past week

Countrywide Conflict Displacement

(The charts below are based on figures from the Italian Ministry of Interior and UNHCR estimates. All figures are provisional and subject to change)

Total arrivals (1 Jan - 16 Sep 2018): 20,617
Total arrivals (1 Jan - 16 Sep 2017): 101,142
Total arrivals 1 Sep - 16 Sep 2018 616
Total arrivals 1 Sep - 16 Sep 2017 2,015
Average daily arrivals in September 2018 so far: 39
Average daily arrivals in August 2018: 48

Update of UNHCR’s operations in Asia and the Pacific

A. Situational context including new developments

SITUATION

The absence of significant rainfall in the last two to three seasons have triggered drought emergency in the southern part of Sindh Province in Pakistan. As per Sindh drought assessment conducted by FAO and EU in 2017, 100% of the area of Tharparkar was facing severe water scarcity. The district of Umerkot was facing severe water scarcity in 83.8% of it’s area and moderate water scarcity in the other 16.2%.

During last week (09 – 15 September 2018), 639 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan (65 from Iran and 574 from Pakistan)

12,691 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan in 2018, out of which 11,249 from Pakistan, 1,331 from Iran and 111 from other countries (as of 15 September 2018)

This is 74% less compared to the same period in 2017, when 49,005 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan

Vienna— While the perilous and deadly Mediterranean sea migration route is well known, new figures from IOM show that more than one in five people arriving irregularly in Europe do so by land.

The most frequently-used route is from Turkey to Greece where authorities reported a total of 12,166 land arrivals since the beginning of 2018.

FUNDING REQUIRED $25.33B

FUNDING RECEIVED $10.19B

UNMET REQUIREMENTS $15.14B

COVERAGE 40.2%

PEOPLE IN NEED 133.8M

PEOPLE TO RECEIVE AID 97.4M

COUNTRIES AFFECTED 41

Total (observed) arrivals - August: 2,458
Total (observed) arrivals - July: 1,989
Total (observed) arrivals of unaccompanied/separated children - August: 468
Total (observed) arrivals of unaccompanied/separated children - July: 156
Total occupancy of government centres – end August: 3,200
Total occupancy of government centres - end July: 3,150
Total presence of refugees/migrants/asylum-seekers – end August: 3,700
Total presence of refugees/migrants/asylum-seekers – end July: 3,600