Working environment

The context

Political and security challenges continue to make it difficult for the Government of Afghanistan to implement its development and reconstruction agenda. For UNHCR, the operational environment is one in which the protection of civilians remains a major issue, but deep poverty continues as the biggest threat to life and progress. With Afghanistan's capacity to absorb returnees stretched to its limits, achieving sustainable return and reintegration is becoming ever more difficult. Some progress in reintegration is anticipated, and UNHCR will continue to play an important role in this respect, but more will be needed in order to reverse current patterns. UNHCR will also engage the Governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran to address issues related to migration management in the subregion.

The needs

The return of more than 5 million refugees since 2002 has increased the estimated population of Afghanistan by more than 20 per cent. In the areas of highest return, as many as one in three people is a returnee. While there has been progress in reconstruction and development, security remains a major problem.

The main needs expressed by returnees are for livelihoods support, shelter and land. Access to land and rights for returnees and internally displaced people (IDPs) is hampered by a weak judiciary. UNHCR conducts a countrywide assessment of needs through annual field surveys (when and where access is permitted), and monitoring activities that use participatory assessment techniques and incorporate age, gender and diversity considerations.

The cash grant attributed to returnees serves to address vital immediate needs in the first month or so of return, such as transport and food. In 2011, UNHCR will review and increase this grant, in order to offset the rise in the cost of living.

Children face a wide range of protection concerns, including child labour, smuggling and human trafficking, and early or forced marriage. Doing more to address the livelihood needs of vulnerable returnee families is one way to address the economic factors that can create such protection risks. UNHCR also continues to support safe houses for women and girls at risk and advocate for other solutions as well.

With regard to IDPs, UNHCR is focusing both on those who have been displaced for a long time and on those more recently uprooted. Afghanistan also hosts a small number of refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. In the absence of a national capacity, UNHCR carries out refugee status determination (RSD) and has succeeded in resettling a small number of these refugees.

2011 UNHCR planning figures for Afghanistan
TYPE OF POPULATION	ORIGIN	JAN 2011		DEC 2011
		TOTAL IN COUNTRY	OF WHOM ASSISTED BY UNHCR	TOTAL IN COUNTRY	OF WHOM ASSISTED BY UNHCR
Total		580,100	480,100	575,100	575,100
Refugees	Various	20	20	20	20
Asylum-seekers	Various	80	80	80	80
Returnees (refugees)	Afghanistan	165,000	165,000	165,000	165,000
IDPs	Afghanistan	400,000	300,000	400,000	400,000
Returnees (IDPs)	Afghanistan	15,000	15,000	10,000	10,000

Main objectives and targets

Security from violence and exploitation

Improve access to legal remedies.

• The training of legal professionals is undertaken, as are interventions in court cases; advocacy for access to national legal remedies is conducted and the capacity of institutions is enhanced.
• Seven legal aid centres are strengthened; legal professionals are trained and interventions are made in court cases.

Reduce the risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and improve the quality of response.

• Survivor referral mechanisms are established; UNHCR joins other UN agencies to conduct sensitization campaigns to prevent and respond to SGBV.

Basic needs and services

Improve shelter and infrastructure.

• Some 13,000 shelter units are provided to the most vulnerable returnee families.
• Some 7,245 IDP families receive shelter assistance.

Supply the population with adequate basic domestic and hygiene items.

• More than 31,000 families are provided with domestic and hygiene items.

Durable solutions

Realize the potential for voluntary return.

• Some 165,000 returnees receive cash grant assistance.
• Some 10,000 IDPs are assisted by UNHCR to return to their villages of origin.

Community participation and self-management

Improve the level of self-reliance and quality of livelihoods.

• Implement small community-based projects, giving priority to communities in areas of major return.

Strategy and activities in 2011

The overall strategic direction and priorities for UNHCR are outlined in the Government's five-year (2008-2012) Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), namely: i) the voluntary return of Afghans from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, and other host countries, ii) strengthening the national capacity for reintegration, iii) addressing internal displacement, iv) improving the terms of stay for Afghans in neighbouring countries, and v) advancing bilateral accords on labour migration.

Regional developments and the challenging environment in Afghanistan suggest that, although voluntary repatriation will remain an important solution, in the longer term the prospects for the Afghans remaining outside the country may become more viable. Temporary labour-migration agreements which recognize the mobility of the Afghan population need to be explored.

With respect to solutions, the focus will be on enhancing the quality of returnee reintegration in areas of origin. Protection and assistance for the most vulnerable will be seen in a more holistic way, encompassing cash grants, shelter, non-food items (NFIs) and livelihood interventions, thereby improving the chances of durable reintegration.

To improve protection, greater attention and resources will be devoted to field monitoring, evaluation, analysis of the durability of return, refugee and migratory movements, and related human rights issues. Practical legal assistance will be given to persons of concern, and the issue of landlessness will be taken up.

UNHCR will continue to operate through national and local partners and will invest more resources in building the capacity of these partners. The Office's role as protection cluster lead has enabled it to work with smaller NGOs working in deep field locations, where they have access to areas affected by displacement. UNHCR plans to support these actors financially in order to better assist populations of concern. UNHCR will also continue to lead the emergency shelter and NFI cluster in Afghanistan.

Constraints

Given the unpredictability of the operational environment, the Office will seek incremental progress towards the goals established by the ANDS while ensuring an effective response to different forms of forced displacement.

Insecurity, political instability and economic and social problems are likely to continue throughout 2011. The number of IDPs is likely to grow as a consequence of intensified military operations in the southern, western and south-eastern regions of the country.

UNHCR believes that finding solutions to land disputes should be possible through an integrated, area-based approach benefiting all parties. However, landless returnees may continue to live in displacement.

Unreliable and insecure access to conflict-induced IDPs will continue to constrain UNHCR's protection and relief operations.

Organization and implementation

Coordination

The security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated steadily since 2006, impeding state-building and reconstruction, and restricting UN access to half the country. However, some areas of highest refugee and IDP return are more stable, allowing UNHCR and its partners to move more freely in them. On the other hand, UNHCR has little or no access to areas with the largest numbers of conflict-induced IDPs. There, it reaches people of concern mainly through local implementing and operational partners.

UNHCR will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation and key ministries under the framework of the ANDS to support returnee reintegration and the protection of the internally displaced. It will also seek greater engagement of other key partners. These include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for migration-related issues; the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, mainly for water projects and community development; the Ministry of Urban Planning and Development; and the Ministry of Justice.

The Information and Legal Aid Centres of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) will supports UNHCR by providing legal services and training lawyers, judges, local authorities and others who participate in informal dispute resolution systems. UNHCR will work with the ILO and Afghanistan's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to conduct skills training and find employment opportunities for returnees. On gender issues, UNHCR cooperates with the Ministry of Women's Affairs and local civil society organizations. Within the UN system, UNHCR works with UNAMA, UNDP, UN-HABITAT, WFP, ILO, WHO, UNICEF, as well as the World Bank.

The Office continues to co-chair the National and Regional IDP Task Forces, besides playing a steering role in the Housing, Land and Property Task Force.

Financial information

The 2011 budget reflects a shift of UNHCR's programme towards durable solutions and an integrated reintegration strategy -- while maintaining a focus on protection. This will increase UNHCR's support for the reintegration of refugee returnees in particular, as well as boost the provision of protection, assistance and solutions for IDPs. The major increases in the 2011 budget, when compared to 2010, are in administrative and staffing costs.

Under the current budget structure for the Afghanistan operation, the initial needs of returning refugees, for example the cash grant, will be covered under the refugee pillar. The reintegration needs of returnees, such as the planned shelter, water and livelihood interventions, are included under the reintegration pillar. All activities for IDPs, including emergency response, are included in the fourth pillar.

Source: UNHCR Global Appeal 2011 Update