HIGHLIGHTS
More than one million Afghans are now on the move. The Flash Appeal is 54 per cent funded; but there is an urgent need for authorities to rapidly increase access to basic services and land.
UNFPA report already stretched emergency obstetric services will face further challenges by the large volume of IDPs and returnees.
PU-AMI mobile health teams tell us about how they bring essential services to remote areas where few, if any, health clinics operate.
UN expert on IDPs warns that the deteriorating displacement crisis in Afghanistan requires urgent attention
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN FUNDING
$339 million MYR revised request (US$)
$172.8 million received (US$)
(Reflects funding on Financial Tracking Service as of 8 November 2016)
FLASH APPEAL FUNDING
$152 million request (US$)
$82.9 million Pledges and contributions (US$)
More than One Million Afghans on the Move in 2016: Record Levels of IDPs and Returnees
Record conflict induced displacement and the surge of hundreds of thousands of families returning from Pakistan means that combined, more than one million Afghans are already on the move in Afghanistan and across borders, surpassing the original estimates of the humanitarian community.
OCHA has now recorded more than 485,509 Afghans displaced by conflict this year. While a staggering figure of itself, the trends are also concerning. 2016 has not only the highest number of internal displacements on record; it also continues the trend of year-onyear sharp increases in new displacement. A record 49.3 per cent of Afghanistan’s districts have reported displacement; and for the first time, all 34 provinces are hosting IDPs.
In addition, at the same time record number of new IDP families are fleeing their homes, more than half a million (559,398) Afghans have returned from Pakistan – mostly in the second half of this year. This figure includes 221,882 undocumented Afghans and deportees and 338,056 refugees up to 6 November, with October a record month for returns (IOM and UNHCR figures).
Together, these IDPs and returnees total more than one million Afghans on the move.
Many of these families are choosing to move to Afghanistan’s major urban centres, looking for education for their children, health services and jobs. This presents significant challenges for the cities and the communities hosting the IDPs and returnees.
Classrooms in Nangarhar that used to have 30 pupils per teacher are now struggling with this influx and regularly exceed 60 or 80 pupils. The Nangarhar Health Department has seen an increase in 15-17 per cent of out-patient demands at its clinics and the regional hospital, and is providing ten new mobile health clinics.
The largest number of returnees are now concentrated in Nangarhar, where, alongside Kabul, Laghman, Baghlan and Kunduz represents the top five locations where returnees intend to go. With Baghlan province one of the largest numbers of conflict displaced people in 2016, and Kunduz itself the centre of fighting in recent months, there are now indications of early secondary displacement among returnees; a sign that their places of origin have been unable to absorb and reintegrate the IDPs and returnees. As a result, we can expect that the major cities, some with already existing caseloads of long term displaced living in informal settlements, will become the final settling place of many people on the move.
With Afghanistan already experiencing one of the fastest rates of urbanisation in the world, there now is an urgent need for authorities to rapidly increase access to basic services for the returnees and IDPs - including clean water, sanitation, health, education in the cities of high return. As well as services, land needs to be quickly and fairly allocated and employment opportunities created, to allow returnees and IDPs to build a permanent home and future in Afghanistan.
In the meantime, the humanitarian community is responding to address the immediate and urgent needs of returnees and IDPs, as outlined in the Flash Appeal. As of 7 November, donors had responded to the Flash Appeal with a strong level of contributions and pledges, totalling US$82.9 million, or 54 per cent of the US$152 million request. This will help save lives over winter, including by providing food assistance, shelter – particularly tents to those families living in the open, health care, water and sanitation, and better services at the border.