12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Uruzgan, Helmand and Kandahar provinces: Armed conflict displaces approximately 80,000 persons; displacements of civilians also in Shindand (Herat); return of IDPs difficult due to ongoing fighting and Taliban activities ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22555]

"Government sources estimate that armed conflict has caused the displacement of 15,000 families (approximately 80,000 persons) from Uruzgan, Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Furthermore, aerial bombardments in April 2007 in the Zirkoh area of Shindand caused additional displacement of civilians. While exact figures of the displacement are unavailable, elders of the area estimate that between 3,000 and 5,000 families were affected. Numbers are likely to increase with the spread of the fighting to other areas. The return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their places of origin is hindered by ongoing fighting, intimidation and fear of being killed by Taliban insurgents and destruction of homes and livelihoods."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

National IDP plan developed in 2003 to resettle IDPs; transformation of IDP camps into permanent settlements to prevent further displacement; data on IDPs in different provinces ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22921]

"In a collaborative effort, a National IDP Plan was developed in 2003. The Plan outlines Afghanistan’s strategy to work towards durable solutions through a combination of assisted voluntary return and local settlement. The strategy for local settlement envisages the transformation of IDP camps into permanent settlements in order to prevent further displacement in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, humanitarian standards and in the framework of relevant national regulations.

Recent data suggests that of those displaced prior to March 2002, some 129,044 people remain displaced within Afghanistan, for the most part living in camp-like situations, mainly in the south of the country. The regional breakdown of IDP population at the end of 2006 was as follows:

• some 112,107 individuals in the southern region, mainly in camps/settlements in Kandahar and Helmand provinces;
• some 11,153 individuals in the western region, mainly in Maslakh settlement in Heart;
• some 3,600 individuals in Kabul and other areas in the centre region; and
• some 3,285 individuals in the northern region."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Since 2002, 487,547 IDPs have been assisted to return to their places of origin in Afghanistan ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22922]

"Since 2002, a total of 98,415 internally displaced families or 487,547 individuals have been assisted to return to their places of origin in Afghanistan. IDPs who returned with assistance have returned to the following regions in Afghanistan: north (168,579), west (154,098), central (124,155), south (22,001), southeast (4,001) and other locations in Afghanistan (520)."

Document(s): Open document

22.08.2007 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Nangarhar province: According to officials hundreds of families have been displaced by military operations by US and Afghan forces against insurgents ("Hundreds of families displaced by fighting in Nangarhar Province") [ID 20978]

Document(s): Open document

22.12.2006 - Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (formerly Global IDP Project)

Report on internal displacement (causes and background, security, freedom of movement, humanitarian issues, return and resettlement) ("Fighting in the south sets off new wave of displacement; A profile of the internal displacement situation") [ID 18388]

Document(s): Open document

05.12.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Kabul: As winter is approaching, some 2,300 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and former refugees suffer from severe lack of winter clothing, fuel, drinking water and access to healthcare ("Displaced and former refugees face miserable winter") [#40273],  [ID 2274]

Document(s): Open document

02.12.2005 - Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (formerly Global IDP Project)

Report on internal displacement (background, causes, patterns), physical security, freedom of movement, subsistence needs (health, nutrition and shelter), patterns of return/ resettlement and humanitarian access ("Afghanistan: Commitment to development key to return of remaining displaced people; A profile of the internal displacement situation") [#40111],  [ID 2275]

Document(s): Open document

05.07.2004 - Source: ReliefWeb

UNHCR has begun moving internally displaced Afghans from the town of Spin Boldak on the Pakistani border to the camp of Zhare Dasht ("UNHCR starts relocating Afghan IDPs under plan to close border camp (AFP)") [#23785],  [ID 2276]

Document(s): Open document

03.12.2003 - Source: UN General Assembly

2.2 million vulnerable Afghans received winter assistance ("Report of the Secretary General on the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security (A/58/616)") [#18064],  [ID 2277]

"[...] 51. Some 2.2 million highly vulnerable Afghans, mainly in the north, west and central highlands, received winter assistance during the review period. In rural areas, special attention was given to remote communities. In urban areas, priority was given to returnees and internally displaced persons lacking adequate shelter or support mechanisms, as well as to extremely vulnerable families. The provision of assistance was facilitated by a cabinet-level winter-preparedness commission led by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. United Nations staff were also seconded to provincial departments to facilitate the provision of assistance. Non-food needs were met and 95 per cent of required food supplies were prepositioned prior to February 2003. Emergency repairs to the Salang Tunnel by the Ministry and non-governmental organization partners and to other routes by the United Nations Joint Logistics Cell and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) maintained road access throughout the winter months. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

09.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Dürre verhindert Rückkehr in den Süden; Sicherheitsprobleme im Norden und im Zentrum des Landes ("Aktualisierte Darstellung der Lage in Afghanistan") [#47150],  [ID 2278]

"Zu Beginn des Jahres 2003 gab es jedoch immer noch 600.000 Binnenvertriebene, hauptsächlich im von Dürre betroffenen Süden Afghanistans. Eine Rückkehr dorthin ist noch nicht angebracht und ist wahrscheinlich auch nicht möglich, so lange die Dürre anhält. Über die Hälfte dieser Binnenvertriebenen lebt im von Dürre betroffenen Süden unter schwierigen Bedingungen, wo langfristige Lösungen ein großes finanzielles und politisches Engagement seitens der afghanischen Regierung und der internationalen Gemeinschaft erfordern. Nach wie vor bestehende Sicherheitsprobleme, vor allem im Norden und im Zentrum des Landes, machen eine Rückkehr auch in diese Gebiete für bestimmte Binnenvertriebene schwierig. Andere möchten nicht in ihre Herkunftsregionen zurückkehren, weil sie in einer Integration vor Ort in ihrem jetzigen Aufenthaltsort bessere Möglichkeiten sehen."

Document(s): Open document

18.08.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Number of displaced persons reduced ("Afghanistan humanitarian update No. 68") [#15300],  [ID 2279]

"Afghanistan's population of displaced persons (IDPs) stands at some 210,000 following the return to home areas or local integration by others, surveys indicate. Ample rainfall during 2003 in many areas helped some IDPs to be able to go back to their communities. This year Afghanistan should harvest its largest wheat crop in 20 years, authorities estimate, helping to reduce the country's hunger gap and providing much-needed employment.

An important reduction in the number of IDPs has been seen in western Afghanistan's Herat Province, where the number of Afghans residing in makeshift camps has dropped by two-thirds since the end of 2002, from nearly 60,000 to less than 20,000.

So far this year more than 26,000 displaced people have gone home from the Herat region's Maslakh camp, 12,300 from Shaidayee camp and 1,700 from Minaret camp aboard 45 convoys organised by UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration. The main destinations have been Herat (21,811 individuals) and Badghis (15,952) provinces.

Parched southern Afghanistan, still suffering the effects of a record drought, hosts an estimated 115,000 IDPs, including more than 17,000 assisted at the Zhare Dasht temporary settlement near Kandahar. Western areas shelter 38,000 displaced people and central areas host 16,000. Eastern and southeast Afghanistan count some 5,000 and 4,000 IDPs respectively."

Document(s): Open document

14.08.2003 - Source: ReliefWeb

Diphtheria outbreak in Zhare Dasht IDP camp, southern Afghanistan ("Diphtheria outbreak in Zhare Dasht IDP camp, southern Afghanistan (MSF)") [#15104],  [ID 2280]

Document(s): Open document

01.07.2003 - Source: BBC News

Children growing up in refugee camps in Peshawar (Pakistan) are being drugged by their parents to leave themselves free to work ("Opium pacifies Afghan refugee children") [#14023],  [ID 2281]

Document(s): Open document

30.06.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Province of Balochistan: 184 Afghan families left the Chaman waiting area ("184 Afghan families leave Chaman waiting area") [#13924],  [ID 2282]

Document(s): Open document

06.01.2003 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR: Overview of IDPs in 2002 ("UNHCR Afghanistan Information Bulletin December 2002") [#10329],  [ID 2283]

"Internally displaced Afghans
The strategy for UNHCR and MoRR has been to focus assistance in villages of origin to create conditions for the return of not only refugees but also internally displaced people. So far, the Agency has assisted over 250,000 internally displaced people to return while another estimated 200,000 have gone home on their own. But there are still some 700,000 internally displaced
Afghans in the country. The displacement problem is particularly acute in southern provinces, where an estimated 400,000 people are living away from their communities due mainly to the severe drought but also due to ethnic tension in the north.

Regional breakdown of IDPs
North: 51,000
South: 413,000
Center: 124,000
East: 70,000
West: 66,000
Estimated TOTAL: 724,000

Another problem in the south is the displacement near the border towns of Spin Boldak on the Afghan side and near Chaman in Pakistan. In response to both governments’ concerns about security at the border, UNHCR has agreed to relocate the displaced families to a new temporary settlement in Zhare Dasht, west of Kandahar, where they can be better assisted. Since the relocation began in August, nearly 5,000 families have voluntarily moved to this temporary site, but there are still some 30,000 people who insist on staying near the border because of better job opportunities in the area.

Together with the Afghan authorities, UNHCR is working to address the root-causes of displacement so that people can eventually return in safety. The displacement of Pashtuns from the north due to their perceived affiliation with the Taliban regime is only the latest in the cycle of violence that involved persecution of various ethnic groups in the past. But as a first step to allow
the return of Pashtuns and to encourage co-existence, the Agency has facilitated the creation of a Return Commission, composed of the leaders in the north and the Afghan government, to begin
dealing with claims of abuses and disputes in the north.

But there are still many issues that cannot be solved by UNHCR alone. To reverse the effects of drought in farming communities, for example, requires the involvement of actors beyond humanitarian agencies. Other UN agencies -- both political and development -- are looking at the problems of drought, especially in the southern region, so that many of the displaced farmers can
return to their land someday. Together with the Afghan government, the UN is also seeking solutions for nomadic Kuchis who lost their livestock and became dependent on aid."

Document(s): Open document
Open document

14.11.2002 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Situation of internally displaced persons in western, central, eastern and northern region highlighted ("Afghanistan: Focus on the internally displaced") [#9512],  [ID 2284]

Document(s): Open document

31.10.2002 - Source: UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

Thirty families have left Bamyan province due to economic ("Afghanistan Weekly Situation Report for Relief, Recovery and Reconstruction (25 - 31 October 2002)") [#9491],  [ID 2285]

"Thirty families have left Bamyan province this week due to economic reasons. The primary destination is Kabul City. All the districts of Bamyan province (excluding for Bamyan district itself) have been seen emigration."

Document(s): Open document
unama_weekly_25_31_october2002.pdf