Pakistan

During another harsh winter in eastern Afghanistan over the past five months, CWS Japan provided cash assistance to help families returning from Pakistan after years in exile to meet basic needs, including interventions to help prevent often-deadly acute respiratory illness among children. Since most families are living in extreme conditions without full shelter or heat, young children face multiple health risks, but ARIs are the deadliest.

On 5th March, 2018, Afghan Red Crescent Society’s (ARCS) Secretary General, Dr. Nilab Mobarez; ARCS Disaster Management Department Head, Mr. Abdul Rahman Kalantari; ARCS’s West Regional Office Head, ARCS Herat Provincial Branch Head, and Italy Project Representatives were observing the optimal distribution of relief items to 300 families who have repatriated from Iran and Pakistan countries to Herat province.

Hanif Samoon

An outbreak of measles and malnutrition claimed the lives of five children in the capital of Sindh's Tharparkar district, hospital sources and relatives said on Saturday.

With the deaths of the five children at Mithi Civil Hospital in the last 24 hours, the toll of children's deaths in Thar has risen to 123 this year, according to credible sources.

Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 11,636 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea through the first 73 days of 2018, with about 48 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece (29%), Spain (22%) and Cyprus (less than 1%). This compares with 20,306 at this point in 2017.

IOM Rome’s Flavio Di Giacomo said Thursday the 5,945 men, women and children arriving as irregular migrants to Italy this year represents a decline of more than 62 per cent over last year’s irregular sea arrivals through this date.

Overview

In January, 41,387 eligible refugees and asylum-seekers (19,154 households) received cash assistance in Greece, in 95 locations.

Key Findings

Nine Advice and Legal Aid Centres (ALAC) are operational in the main refugee-hosting areas of four provinces in order to provide free legal support to persons of concern: four in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), one in Sindh and three in Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) through partnership agreements with SHARP and one in Baluchistan run by SEHER.

The Secretary-General condemns yesterday’s attack at a police checkpoint near a mosque in the outskirts of Lahore.

The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes those injured a speedy recovery. He calls for the perpetrators of the attack to be brought to justice.

The United Nations supports the efforts of the Government of Pakistan to fight terrorism with full respect for international human rights norms and obligations.

Polio this week as of 13 March 2018 New on www.polioeradication.org: For International Women’s Day, we highlighted the critical role that women play in global polio eradication efforts. Dr Adele Daleke Lisi Aluma works to reach children who have never been vaccinated, whilst in Somalia, women are the face of polio eradication. In Nigeria, dedicated female mobilizers are ending polio, one home at a time.
We also launched the Gender and Polio section of our website.

Drought continues in Southern Africa, while parts of Madagascar and Kenya are on flood watch

1. Due to poor rainfall since November western Namibia is in a severe drought. Conditions may worsen as limited rain is forecast next week.

2. In southwestern Madagascar, an uneven and inadequate rainfall distribution since the start of the rainfall season has resulted in severe drought. Drought conditions are likely to persist.

Geneva, Thursday 15 March 2018

Humanitarian access has deteriorated in seven countries over the past six months, according to the Humanitarian Access Overview report released today by ACAPS.

Out of the 37 countries included in the report, nearly half of them (18) are currently facing high humanitarian access constraints. Moderate humanitarian access constraints are an issue in nine countries and ten present low humanitarian access constraints.

Calm situation persists because of poor winter rainfall

No significant rain fell for the third consecutive month in the winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea during February. Consequently, unusually dry and unfavourable breeding conditions persist in most areas. No locusts have been reported except for scattered mature solitarious adults at two places on the Red Sea coast of **Sudan**. 

2. Background & Rationale

2.1. Rationale

After unprecedented levels of displacement were observed in Afghanistan in 2016, the situation remained unstable in 2017.

Since January, approximately 286,000 undocumented Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran (IOM, 2017) and an estimated 202,109 people have been displaced internally by conflict (OCHA, 2017).

KEY MESSAGES

↗ International prices of wheat and maize increased further in February, mainly supported by weather-related concerns and currency movements. Export price quotations of rice also continued to strengthen, although the increases were capped by subsiding global demand for Indica supplies.

↗ In East Africa, in the Sudan, prices of the main staples: sorghum, millet and wheat, continued to increase in February and reached record highs, underpinned by the removal of the wheat subsidies and the strong depreciation of the Sudanese Pound.

High levels of food insecurity persist in the world, due largely to conflicts and to adverse climatic shocks that are taking a toll, particularly in East African and Near East countries, where large numbers of people continue to be in need of humanitarian assistance, a new FAO report notes. Some 37 countries are in need of external assistance for food, unchanged from three months ago, according to the Crop Prospects and Food Situation report issued today.

1. Introduction: Global Context

There are an estimated 21.3 million refugees around the world (UNHCR, 2017), and many find themselves in an indeterminate state for years, unable to exercise the full range of rights they need to become self-sufficient and restart their lives. Refugees need practical and quick pathways to protection and solutions. This begins with quality education. Education is not only a fundamental right; it is one of the most valuable assets a refugee can have.