Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Flight from Afghanistan

Posted: 9 November 2001

War and drought in Afghanistan have generated the second largest exodus of refugees in the world, but what awaits them is far below acceptable standards.

War and drought in Afghanistan have generated the second largest exodus of refugees in the world. Before the current military campaign, there were 3.6 million refugees in neighboring countries and abroad; now tens of thousands more have fled towards Pakistan and Iran. The conditions faced by internally displaced people and refugees are far below any acceptable standards. Oxfam is calling on the governments of the region and the international community to take urgent action to ensure that basic needs are met and that people's rights are respected within international humanitarian law.

Although the numbers of people who have fled across or towards borders are uncertain, it is clear that people are on the move, fleeing food shortages, bombardments, and violence. The UN estimates that 80 per cent of the population of the southern city of Kandahar has left. Thirty per cent of the population has left Herat in the west, and several other towns are also nearly empty. Many have simply fled to the countryside, but others have sought to cross into neighbouring countries, although relatively few have been allowed to cross the borders.

According to the UN, the Taliban is actively preventing people from leaving Afghanistan, even those in need of urgent medical attention. Gross human rights abuses by the Taliban against people fleeing east from Kabul have been reported. Abuses by uncontrolled forces will inevitably increase with a breakdown of law and order in many places.

The humanitarian situation in camps inside the Afghanistan border is appalling. In some places conditions are deteriorating rapidly, with cases of malnutrition and disease on the rise because essential, life-saving conditions such as access to food, clean water and medicines cannot be provided. Camps in Pakistan are inadequate; new sites do not meet standards of safety nor allow conditions for life with dignity.

Neighboring countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran, have been generous in hosting millions of Afghan refugees in recent years, but these countries have now stated that it is against their national interests to open their borders. While their concerns may be valid, it is clearly their responsibility, with sufficient financial and institutional backing from the international community, to ensure that refugees are granted due protection and assistance.

Oxfam fears that the growing tensions around refugees are leading to an environment in which measures may be taken to round up and return refugees to Afghanistan. If refugees were to be turned away at the borders and pushed back into Afghanistan, where their lives are in danger, this would amount to refoulement--forced repatriation--and would contravene the 1951 Refugee Convention. Nearly all the countries in the region have signed and ratified this document, which has acquired the force of a customary international law over all countries.

The breakdown of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law inside Afghanistan, and the collapse of the international refugee asylum system in the region, amount to a profound failure by the international community to uphold those measures introduced in the aftermath of the Second World War to ensure that massive abuses of human rights would never be allowed to happen again. The failure of the coalition governments to campaign sufficiently for the protection of civilians inside Afghanistan and the opening of borders to provide asylum for legitimate refugees in neighbouring states is a particularly alarming aspect of the current crisis.

There are immediate steps that can be taken to diminish the obstacles and fears faced by neighboring states. Arguments to keep the borders shut could be more easily countered if a proper system of refugee status determination was in place, with refugee camps located at a suitable distance from international borders, and with an assurance of their civilian nature guaranteed by the host countries and the UNHCR. To meet the financial burden of this crisis, donors must provide prompt and adequate funding and institutional support for host governments. These pledges must be quickly fulfilled, since these countries are already among the poorest in the world, and facing the same devastating three-year drought as Afghanistan.

1. States neighbouring Afghanistan to open their borders to refugees without further delay. Neighbouring states should remove all obstacles to granting immediate protection and assistance to all those fleeing Afghanistan. This must include the agreement to respect the principle of non-refoulement. Protection would also include the establishment of secure and habitable living areas (camps), with adequate provision of shelter, food, water and sanitation, health care, and other basic necessities according to recognised minimum standards (e.g. Sphere ). Given the time it is taking to establish a proper system of refugee status determination, temporary protection should be granted, but only as a very interim measure that does not impede people from seeking full refugee status.

2. The international community, the United Nations and the US- and UK-led coalition must make clear and public statements in favor of open borders. Insufficient pressure and incentives have been applied to countries in the region to address the refugee situation seriously. Coalition governments have a particular role to play in ensuring that humanitarian law is upheld, and that diplomatic efforts in the region include explicit agreements on addressing the needs and rights of refugees.

3. Neighboring states should provide secure access for impartial humanitarian agencies to refugee camps and should themselves offer whatever assistance they can. This is likely to be the only way in which the welfare of refugees can be assured. Measures should be taken to preserve the civilian nature of the camps, such as providing policing, ensuring camps are at an adequate distance from any military zone, and preventing camps being used to recruit refugees into militia.

4. Donor countries must ensure adequate funding. While pledges for the Afghanistan appeal have been high, donors must deliver the cash as soon as possible in order to reassure host countries that the financial burden of humanitarian support is indeed being shared among donor and host countries. Early pledges will also increase flexibility in the delivery of relief into Afghanistan and throughout the region. Funding should be sustained for the medium- to long-term, supporting development projects in the host countries as well.

5. UNHCR must fulfil its protection mandate. In this charged climate, the UNHCR must strongly denounce any moves to repatriate refugees forcibly. In addition, the UNHCR's own guidelines and standards for the protection of women should be implemented. Humanitarian agencies should deploy women in their planning and front-line staff, so that access to refugee girls and women is increased.

6. Human rights and protection observers should be deployed. Staff of the UN's Human Rights Commission should be engaged in any assistance situation, whether inside Afghanistan or in neighbouring countries. They would play an important role as witnesses of, and deterrents for, further abuses. They could also address specific concerns relating to gender violence and dislocation. International donors should contribute specifically to this purpose.

Afghanistan
There are rising health concerns at the makeshift camp in Spin Boldak (near the Chaman crossing, but inside Afghanistan and under Taliban control). For example, there have been increasing cases of malnutrition and dysentery among children. According to the UNHCR, the camp's population is about 3000 people, or some 700 families. At least 100 families are reported to be sleeping in the open without any shelter or aid.

Pakistan
Up to 100,000 people are thought to have entered Pakistan through Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province since September 11, even though the border has remained officially closed except for "exceptionally vulnerable" persons. Even so, it is believed that an average of 2500 Afghans a day cross the border. According to the UNHCR, an estimated 135,000 refugees have fled to Pakistan between September 11 and November 7 in spite of the dangers, restrictions, and costs of this journey. Many of these people are described by the Pakistan authorities as "invisible," blending in with established refugee communities in the hope of not being deported.

There are clearly not enough camps in place to receive, process, and assist populations in need. Killi Faizo staging camp in Pakistan, near the Chaman border, currently holds some 2400 people and, according to the UN, is over-capacity. The site was filled and further registration closed in just over a week after opening. Longer-term refugee camps have still not been properly established. Conditions in those areas designated as camp sites will almost certainly be extraordinarily harsh and inhospitable.

Iran
Iran has not opened its borders, even though it is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Instead, it has offered to assist displaced people on the Afghan side of the border through the Iranian Red Crescent Society. This decision removes any recourse for refugees to international legal protection.

Tens of thousands of desperate refugees have reportedly crossed illegally into Iran, many having paid smugglers for their passage. The border with Afghanistan is heavily mined and the risks of death or injury from landmine explosions are very real. Records from visiting medical teams, cited in the UK's national Guardian newspaper on November 6, indicate that 43,000 refugees have arrived in the country since September 11, although authorities suggest that the number could be closer to 60,000.

There are currently two established camps near the Iranian border, inside Afghanistan. NGOs have only restricted access to Makaki camp, which receives 900-1000 new arrivals each day. It currently hosts some 7000 refugees. A second camp, "Mile 46," hosts some 144 families, despite the fact that there is very little food or water in the area. Iran provides electricity and a small clinic to test for communicable diseases, such as malaria, cholera, and TB. These camps have filled very quickly since opening.

The Iranian authorities are considering opening a third camp at Pashmakeh. However, conditions here might be even worse than at the other two camps, with particular concerns about water.

Turkmenistan
There are mixed groups of combatants and civilians living in difficult conditions along Turkmenistan's border with Afghanistan. Screening and disarmament would be necessary in order to provide protection to civilians. The border is officially closed to people wishing to enter the country.

Importantly, the government of Turkmenistan has agreed to facilitate visas for foreigners working with Afghans across the border, but has expressly forbidden emergency work with newly arrived refugees.

Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan hosts approximately 30,000 Tajik refugees, but very few Afghan refugees. It is unlikely to see a large number of refugees at its small border with Afghanistan. However, the government has agreed actively to facilitate cross-border assistance. It has also allowed the establishment of a forward UN logistics base on the border at Termez.

Tajikistan
Tajikistan hosts some 5000 officially registered refugees. The borders to Tajikistan are open for humanitarian access but not for general population movement. There are an estimated 10-15,000 Afghan refugees living on islands in the Pyandzh River which separates the two countries. The Taliban front line is about one mile from some of these islands, and combatants have not been separated from genuine refugees. Conditions on these islands are poor, with limited access to water and a great need for clothing and shoes for children. Last winter many refugees died of hypothermia, malnutrition, and disease.

Oxfam International works in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and Iran and may be expanding operations into other countries in the region. It has worked in Afghanistan since 1989, and continues to distribute food to people who have been displaced by the crisis. Working through both national staff and partners, Oxfam carries out a range of activities, including water and sanitation, health, trauma counseling, and women's rights advocacy and rural development.