KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – International humanitarian agency Save the Children says that nearly a quarter of a million Afghan children who returned from Pakistan in the past seven months are in need of basic necessities such as shelter, food, health services, and education.
An assessment conducted by Save the Children released on Thursday, April 18, revealed that more than 520,000 Afghans have returned from Pakistan since last September, with children making up nearly half of all returnees.
The assessment highlighted that the majority of the returnees currently lack adequate housing, relying on relatives or living in open areas without access to health facilities, food, water, or education.
“A significant portion of returnees shared accommodation with relatives, and support in the form of shelter materials to expand existing homesteads as well as to establish new shelters is needed to alleviate overcrowding.”
In October of last year, the caretaker government of Pakistan announced The Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan, which required all undocumented immigrants, including over 1.7 million Afghans, to depart the country within one month or face deportation.
According to recent UN reports, since then, over half a million Afghan refugees, predominantly women and children, have voluntarily returned or been deported back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The government of Pakistan attributed the decision to counter-terrorism measures, claiming that undocumented refugees are the primary sources of recent security incidents in the country.
Afghans are returning to their country at a time when economic, humanitarian, and healthcare conditions have deteriorated since the fundamentalist Taliban returned to power nearly three years ago.
Yesterday, the United Nations reported that nearly 16 million Afghans in the country are experiencing severe food insecurity at crisis and emergency levels this year.
According to the UN report, millions of people in Afghanistan are unable to either produce or afford food. The prolonged levels of food insecurity have increased the risks of hunger and malnutrition in an environment that aid workers describe as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Women and children encounter even broader challenges as a result of the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s education, employment, and mobility. Currently, nearly 8 million children in Afghanistan –one in three–are experiencing crisis levels of hunger.
Save the Children says that almost all (99%) families who have returned to Afghanistan and those in host communities don’t have enough food for the next one to two months. The assessment highlights that about three-quarters of returnees and families in host communities have reduced portion sizes or restricted food consumption to adults in order to feed small children.
“About 40% of returnees and host families surveyed had to borrow food or rely on friends and relatives for at least three days a week – with 13% of returnees and 9% of host families saying they had to get food from others every day,” the assessment said.
The study further indicates that a significant number of returnees have experienced psychological distress and trauma as a result of their experiences during and after their return.
The organisation also discovered that 61% of the returnees require immediate health assistance, with children facing various infectious diseases and malnutrition.
“27% of children suffering from cough and flu, 5% of children suffering from malnutrition, 4% of children suffering from diarrhoea, 5% of children from Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) infections, and 2% of children suffering from skin diseases.”
The assessment investigated whether the returnees were able to transport any assets during the return process. However, it revealed that only 34% of returnees had succeeded in bringing their assets back to Afghanistan with them. At the Spin Boldak border, 31% of returnees reported that their assets had been confiscated, while at the Torkham border, the figure was 12%. The remaining returnees stated that they lacked the means to transport their assets back to Afghanistan.
Save the Children concludes that despite significant commitments from various stakeholders to support the returnees, there remains a significant funding gap. Additional funding is needed to expand the program’s reach and improve service provision.
