War has sent millions of Afghans fleeing to neighboring countries over the last two decades. This year, in addition to war, the people of Afghanistan face an added threat to their survival: the worst drought in 30 years. Already, since September, 150,000 Afghans have fled to Pakistan and 350,000 are displaced within the country.
RI visited camps containing 80,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) near Herat, Afghanistan, February 1 to 4. Our visit came just after the coldest weather and heaviest snowfall in many years. Temperatures dropped to below zero Fahrenheit and heavy snow blanketed the camps. The government reported many deaths from exposure among the displaced persons. But the snow was the first precipitation in many months and -- if followed by more snow and spring rains -- could signal an end to the drought.
The conditions in the IDP camps near Herat are grim. The largest camp, Maslakh, is home to 40,000 people crammed together, three families to each small tent. Food provided to the IDPs consists of wheat, which the IDPs grind into flour and bake into bread at a nearby village. Many of the adults and children lack warm clothing, especially adequate shoes and socks. At the time of our visit, the frigid weather had prompted the distribution of firewood and quilts to each family. A graveyard full of fresh children's graves testifies to the rigors of life in the camps.
Many of the men attempt to supplement the meager aid they receive by gathering firewood to sell or by journeying by foot or bus 10 miles into the city to seek day labor. At best, they earn a few cents a day. Although Herat remains relatively untouched by the civil war going on elsewhere in Afghanistan, economic opportunities are extremely limited.
Due to the heavy snows, few new IDPs were coming to the camps during RI's visit. However, as the snow melts, the number of new arrivals is expected to rebound to 300 to 500 persons per day -- and possibly accelerate beyond this number.
Most of the IDPs in Herat to whom we spoke cited the drought as the reason for their displacement. Without food to last the winter in their homes, they banded together in village and family groups to travel to the IDP camps. They reported traveling on foot and in trucks for up to twelve days to reach the camps, spending all their remaining resources during the journey. All said they would return to their homes if sufficient rain and snow fell this winter to make agriculture possible and if they had the means to plant a crop and to survive while they waited for a harvest.
The Afghans who have reached the IDP camps may be the lucky ones. Conditions for those who remain back in their inaccessible villages are unknown.
The prospect is for a continued -- and large -- outpouring of Afghan refugees and IDPs over the next few months as people in rural areas run out of food and leave their homes in desperation to journey to the nearest refugee or IDP camps. The UN is gearing up to meet an increased demand for food and other emergency aid. The UN has appealed for $229 million in aid this year. The World Food Programme (WFP) just issued an appeal for 177,000 tons of food in 2001 to help feed 2.4 million Afghans -- more than 10 percent of the population. (The U.S. is, by far, the largest food donor, contributing about 80 percent of the total food aid to Afghanistan in 2000.)
Beyond immediate relief aid, helping Afghan refugees and IDPs return home when it is feasible for them to do so should also be a high international priority -- but the international response to these needs has not been generous. The ICRC has a return program planned for 10,000 families; Sweden has donated $600,000 for seed; Japan has a program to help returnees; and UNHCR hopes to resume a repatriation program from Pakistan in April. The needs are much larger than what these few donors have contributed.
The UN program for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan is coordinated by OCHA. However, with an expanding program, present OCHA resources seem barely adequate to staff half a dozen regional centers in Afghanistan. UNHCR/Afghanistan now plays only a limited role of facilitating repatriation from Iran -- but UNHCR expertise and resources could be of great use in managing IDP camps. WFP has a far-flung system of food distribution, but many areas of the country are inaccessible due to lack of roads or poor security. Most of the IDPs in Herat, for example, come from areas which cannot be reached by international food aid. In general, due to difficult and dangerous working conditions, there is a shortage of local and international NGOs on the ground in Afghanistan to implement relief and development programs. This will be a serious constraint as the international community attempts to address a worsening humanitarian situation this winter and spring.
War and drought clearly threaten to cause massive displacement and threaten massive starvation this year in Afghanistan.
Refugees International, therefore, recommends the following actions:
- International aid agencies bolster their aid delivery systems and, consistent with security concerns, their presence in Afghanistan. These include more resources to strengthen OCHA's coordinating and facilitating role within Afghanistan, greater participation by UNHCR in assisting IDPs, additional food for WFP, and augmenting Habitat's shelter construction program. More NGO partners are needed to implement programs.
- Donors respond immediately to the UN's appeal for $229 million to aid Afghanistan this year and WFP's updated appeal for 177,000 tons of food. The clear policy of aid programs should continue to be to deliver food to the needy in their homes whenever possible and thereby prevent displacement.
- Donors, including the World Bank and development agencies, collaborate to expand programs which will enable Afghan refugees and IDPs to return to their homes as soon as possible and to resume farming. For example, the distribution of seeds to returning farmers is a necessity, but resources to provide seeds are now grossly inadequate.
Contact: Larry Thompson ri@refintl.org
Larry Thompson RI's Director of Advocacy, recently visited IDP camps in Afghanistan.
Refugees International -- 1705 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20035 Phone: 202-828-0110 Fax: 202-828-0819 www: http://www.refintl.org