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Afghanistan

Fact sheet: State Department funds assist Afghan refugees, displaced persons

Through its Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, the U.S. Department of State has contributed $145.7 million to help support refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and victims of conflict in Afghanistan, according to a fact sheet issued January 10.

The contributions are directed through international organizations, such as the United Nations, and through non-government organizations (NGOs), to provide access for refugees and IDPs to shelter, water and sanitation, health care, education, and mine awareness.

Since the establishment of an interim Afghan government in December 2001, more than two million Afghan refugees have returned to their homes.

Following is a fact sheet issued by the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration:

(begin fact sheet)

Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

RESPONSE TO THE AFGHAN CRISIS

Afghanistan has been experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis with four years of drought overlaid on more than twenty years of conflict. Last winter, the World Food Program, largely because of contributions by the United States, managed to avert a famine, which had placed nearly seven million Afghans at risk of starvation. WFP and other agencies have enough food and non-food items to meet the urgent needs of about five million Afghans at risk this winter. The United States supplies about 70 percent of all food to Afghans through the World Food Program.

The United States has also provided food, shelter and health care to millions of Afghans ever since they fled their homeland in 1979. With the defeat of the Taliban, and the creation of a transitional government in Afghanistan to guide the country toward a permanent broad-based government, Afghanistan's future is looking brighter. More than two million Afghan refugees have returned home, but they need help in rebuilding their lives. Once again, the United States is answering the call.

The United States, through the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), has obligated a total of $145.7 million* to support Afghan refugees, internally-displaced persons and other conflict victims since the beginning of the current Afghan emergency.

PRM's primary implementing partners are the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other international organizations (IOs). The U.S. Government, through PRM, also provides funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to fill critical protection and assistance gaps in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in neighboring countries.

The U.S. funding in Afghanistan, through PRM, supports the voluntary return and reintegration of refugees and IDPs to their homes in Afghanistan. To this end, PRM supports critical activities in the sectors of shelter, water and sanitation, reproductive, maternal and child health care, food and nutrition, primary education, mine education and awareness, economic assistance, and capacity building.

Type of Contribution
Amount
Total PRM Contributions to IOs
$124.5 million
Total PRM Contributions to NGOs
$21.2 million
Total PRM Contributions
$145.7 million*

<i>* In

addition, $2.4 million was carried forward for use in early FY-03.

PRM CONTRIBUTIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Agency
Amount
Purpose
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO IOs
$124.5 million
Contingency Planning, Emergency Assistance, Return, and Reintegration Assistance
UNHCR TOTAL
$67.3 million
Emergency Response to Afghan Refugees and IDPs; Support for Voluntary Repatriation and Reintegration for Returning Refugees
ICRC TOTAL
$24.5 million
Emergency Response for Conflict Victims in Afghanistan and neighboring countries
IFRC TOTAL
$5.0 million
Emergency Assistance to Afghans in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Iran
IOM TOTAL
$7.8 million
Emergency Assistance, Logistics, Assistance to IDPs and Returning Refugees in Afghanistan; Internal Transportation Network for Returning Refugees and IDPs
OCHA TOTAL
$3.6 million
Inter-Agency Coordination in Pakistan and Afghanistan
UNDP TOTAL
$0.66 million
Support for the Project Management Information System in Afghanistan (ProMIS) and the Donor Assistance Database
UNFPA TOTAL
$0.6 million
Safe Motherhood Program for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan
UNICEF TOTAL
$8.0 million
Emergency Health, Education, Water/Sanitation Assistance to Afghan Refugees and IDPs; Support for UNICEF's Back-to-School Program for Returning Afghan Refugees
WFP TOTAL
$6.0 million
Logistics, Food Mgmt & Supply in Afghanistan and Pakistan
WHO TOTAL
$1.0 million
Support for the Provision of Basic Health Services for Returning Refugees

PRM CONTRIBUTIONS TO NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (OBLIGATED AND COMMITTED)

Agency
Amount
Purpose
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO NGOs
$21.2 million
Emergency Assistance for Refugees and IDPs, Return and Reintegration Assistance for Returnees
Aga Khan Foundation
$.5 million
Shelter assistance and construction training for returnees and IDPs in six regions in Baghlan and Bamian provinces
Catholic Relief Service
$1.2 million
Support for multifaceted reintegration project for returnees to Herat and Kandahar provinces
Church World Service
$.17 million
Program to support health services to refugees in Mansehra, Pakistan and Nangarhar, Afghanistan
Church World Service
$.68 million
Supports income generation project targeting female returnees in Kabul
Community Housing Foundation
$2.16 million
Program to address the humanitarian needs of extremely vulnerable Afghan returning refugees and IDPs to Bamian and Kabul provinces
International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC)
$0.52 million
Program to identify and coordinate social service delivery to vulnerable urban Afghans in Peshawar and Quetta, Pakistan
ICMC
$.86 million
Support for project identifying and providing care to extremely vulnerable individuals (returnees, IDPs) in Kandahar and Herat provinces, Afghanistan
Int'l Medical Corps (IMC)
$1.2 million
Support for project providing health care, primary education, non-formal education, and micro-credit for Afghan refugees in Haripur and Baluchistan, Pakistan
IMC
$.68 million
Support for basic health services with an emphasis on maternal and child health in refugee camps in NWFP, Pakistan for old caseload population; training of health care workers
IMC
$1.6 million
Rehabilitation of clinics in 3 provinces in eastern Afghanistan; training of health care workers
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
$2.5 million
Support for multifaceted reintegration project for returnees in southern , central, and western Afghanistan
IRC
$.37 million
Health care and drought response project for old and new caseload refugees in NWFP, Afghanistan
IRC
$.9 million
Continued support for Afghan refugee girls in primary and secondary schools in refugee camps in NWFP, Pakistan; health education for girls and their parents; teacher training
IRC
$.23 million
Support to maintain operational capacity inside Afghanistan
MCI
$0.16 million
Support to maintain operational capacity inside Afghanistan
MCI
$0.38 million
Program to support health services and capacity-building for vulnerable Afghan refugees in Quetta, Pakistan
MCI
$1.5 million
Assistance to stabilize at-risk communities and facilitate potential returns to Helmand Province, Afghanistan
MCI
$2.0 million
Support for program providing health care, micro-credit, and drought relief to refugees in camps and urban settings in Baluchistan, Pakistan
Plan International
$.53 million
Establishment of mobile clinics and training facilities for new caseload refugees in Chaman-area camps, Pakistan
Save the Children - US
$1.83 million
Program to support assistance in health, education, and administrative services to Afghan refugees in Haripur and Baluchistan, Pakistan
Shelter for Life
$1.2 million
Shelter and winterization assistance for returnees, IDPs, and other vulnerable Afghans in Kabul City, Takhar and Kunduz provinces

(end fact sheet)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)