Afghanistan is experiencing a humanitarian and displacement crisis. Over half a million Afghans have been newly displaced inside the country in 2021, and Afghan women and girls make up the majority of those displaced. Families speak of having to flee at a moment’s notice, even when faced with the risk of improvised explosive devices and attacks by armed groups during their flight.
This latest wave of violence comes on top of recurrent natural disasters such as the current devastating drought. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had far-reaching health impacts as well as socio-economic repercussions. Less than 4 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. Afghans already constitute one of the world’s largest refugee populations worldwide.
Some 90 per cent of Afghan refugees are hosted in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan, with more than 2.2 million registered in the two countries. Another 3 million people were already displaced inside the country before new fighting broke out this year.
Afghanistan’s children are growing up amid this crisis. Some 65 per cent of the Afghan people – in and outside of Afghanistan – are children and young people, anxious about their future in the face of insecurity and economic challenges.
The resilience of Afghan families is being stretched to breaking point. The situation in Afghanistan was already complex, and failure to resolve the current instability will lead to new displacement.
UNHCR POSITION ON RETURNS TO AFGHANISTAN
[BG] Access to territory, Iliana Savova, Legal Aid for Refugees and Migrants, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee 