(MENAFN- Daily Outlook Afghanistan) Afghans were displaced due toarmed conflict, generalized violence and human rights violations, IOM says.
KABUL - A new DisplacementTracking Matrix report published by the International Organization forMigration (IOM) in Afghanistan shows that one in three Afghans has migrated orbeen displaced in the past six years.
The Displacement TrackingMatrix (DTM) is a system that captures information on the movements andevolving needs of displaced populations, whether on-site or en route. In themost recent round of data collection completed in December 2018, IOM covered11,443 communities in 390 districts of all 34 provinces of Afghanistan.
The study found that since2012, 3.2 million Afghan migrants and refugees have returned from abroad. Thevast majority (95%) returned from neighboring Iran and Pakistan. The remainingfive percent came mainly Europe and Turkey (170,000).
While they settled in all 34provinces, many of them (15% or 49,000) stayed in the eastern province ofNangarhar on the border with Pakistan.
'Providing these returnees witheconomic opportunities is a key driver for their successful reintegration,said Head of IOM Afghanistan Laurence Hart. 'This is why IOM, with thefinancial support of the European Union, has been actively engaging in thecreation of self-employment opportunities and private sector support in areasof high return, including Nangarhar.
Over the same six-year period,3.5 million Afghans were internally displaced due to armed conflict,generalized violence, human rights violations or natural disasters. In 2016 and2017 alone, an estimated over a million Afghans were displaced each year, basedon IOM interviews.
'According to a recent UNreport, 2018 also saw a record high in civilian casualties in Afghanistan –another key driver of displacement, Hart noted.
Most people who have fledAfghanistan since 2012 went to neighboring Iran. Out of 2.3 million Afghans intotal who left the country, 63 percent (1.4 million) went to Iran, 22 percentto Pakistan (500,000) and only 12 percent to Europe and Turkey (270,000). Thereis growing pressure on them to return.
'Given the already high levelsof internal displacement in many areas of Afghanistan, the absorptioncapacities of many provinces are already overstretched. The potential massreturn of Afghans in the second half of 2019 due to deteriorating protectionspace in host countries is a major concern for us, Hart added. (Tolo news)
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