Afghanistan: Italy contributes 3,000,000 euros to support Returnees and Internal Displaced People (IDPs)

Italy allocated 3 million euros to support Afghan refugees, returnees and internal displaced people, through a humanitarian contribution to UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). Thanks to this contribution, more than 100,000 refugees and displaced people will be assisted, with particular attention to the vulnerable population: women, children and elders. The program implemented by UNHCR (two million euros) has a duration of one year and aims at facilitating the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran, support peaceful co-existence between host communities and registered refugee returnees to make reintegration more sustainable, and strengthen services for the vulnerable people. The contribution to UNFPA (one million euros) wants to protect Afghan women returning from the neighboring countries, with a specific focus on the provinces of Nimroz, Herat and Kandahar. Part of this contribution will be used to build new structures and services on the border with Pakistan, at the transit point of Spin Boldak (Kandahar). According to the UN agencies, over 600,000 Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan in the last year and the number of returns will continue to increase in the coming months and will therefore put under pressure the essential services. In particular, it is estimated that in 2018 more than 700,000 people will come from Pakistan, 300,000 from Iran and 10,000 from Turkey. Political and security instability is also increasing the number of internally displaced people (IDPs). Data from the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) report that, during the first four months of 2018, more than 80,000 Afghans left their houses because of the conflict.
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