Emergency: Refoulement of Afghani refugees

Date of Emergency: Ongoing since early May 2007

Implementing Member: Church World Service – Pakistan/Afghanistan

Implementing Partner: Afghanistan Development Association (ADA)

Details of the Emergency: Church World Service’s (CWS) Pakistan/Afghanistan office has reported that since April 24^th 2007 Afghan refugees have been deported by the Government of Iran through the Dogharoon border of Herat Province and Abrishem Bridge of Nimroz Province. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ IRIN service reports that the Afghan Foreign Ministry had said that some 30,000 Afghan refugees, including women and children, had been sent home from Iran the last week of April alone. It is unclear how many Afghans work and live in Iran without formal documentation but, according to the report, Iran has indicated that there may be as many as one million people who will be sent home to Afghanistan.

Returnees are facing huge problems surviving day to day, with a need for food, shelter and other basic items, especially amongst the families that are scattered across Farah and Nimroz provinces—both areas where insecurity levels are high, and few aid agencies operate. Herat has fewer returnees and is receiving relatively more assistance, as there are more international and national NGOs and UN agencies operating in the area. Reports have been received of people being forcibly repatriated and of ill-treatment by Iranian security officials. At the same time, there is currently a lack of co-ordination and planning between government agencies and international organisations working in the areas. Only the UNHCR in Farah has so far provided assistance to these refugees to date.

The returnees are mostly scattered in a wide geographic area across Herat, Nimroz, and Farah Provinces in Western Afghanistan. The returnees are in need of food items, shelters and other necessary survival materials. A lack of co-ordination and planning among the concerned government agencies and international organisations as well as insecurity in the areas are adding to their problems. Due to insecurity not many aid agencies are willing to move in for providing assistance to these returnees. Only UNHCR in Farah has provided some assistance.

Purpose of Response: To provide immediate relief (food-items and temporary shelter) to 250 the most vulnerable returnee households in Farah and Nimroz Province in order to save lives.

Beneficiary information and geographical areas of response: Assistance will be give in Farah Province and Nimroz Province as this is the area where few aid agencies are working due to the situation of high security risk . These are also the provinces where most returnees are located and humanitarian conditions are the worst.

In Farah Province 564 returnee families have been registered so far by the government, while a further 500 un-registered families are estimated. These families are settling in various areas in the province.

In Nimroz Province around 4,500 families have been arriving from Iran so far, as per the Report of the Repatriation/Refugees Office and the United Nation Organization for Refugees and Repatriation.

Beneficiaries of assistance through this RRF support will be the most vulnerable among those who were forced to return to Nimroz and Farah Province from Iran. Returnees will be selected according to the following criteria:

• Female headed households
• Households headed by an elderly or a very young child,
• Households with no sources of income,
• Female headed households with a disabled family member,
• Elderly women and men without family support,
• Pregnant/lactating women in poor and landless families

Proposed assistance: According to the objectives and the criteria set, food packages and temporary shelter will be distributed to 250 of the most vulnerable families among those repatriated from Iran. This will be done in consultation with the community and in a participatory manner to the extent possible. ADA’s project manager will be responsible for direct supervision of the project implementation and CWSP-P/A’s project manager will be responsible for the monitoring of the implementing partner. ADA’s Field Supervisors will monitor the project activities at field level, coordinating the project at local level/district with other stakeholders and reporting to the Project Manager. The procurement officer will facilitate the procurement and logistics.

A food package will comprise: 100kg wheat flour, 10kg rice, 5kg pulses, 5 liters cooking oil, 5kg sugar, 1kg tea leaves and 1 packet iodized salt. This is sufficient for a family of five for one month to 40 days.

Temporary shelter provided will be non-winterized tents, and one plastic sheet will be provided to each family.

ACT and CWS procurement guidelines will be applied to ensure that the right items are obtained and supplied at the right time and within the approved budget. Quotations from three different suppliers will be invited and on the basis of a comparative bid analysis items will be procured. The quality and price of the material is considered. All bulk buying is done from wholesale markets and the service of middlemen is avoided. Suppliers representing underprivileged groups or minorities are given preference. Records of receipts and quotations are maintained. The local implementing partners will strictly follow the standard procurement guidelines of CWS-P/A.

The food and non food items will be transported to the selected drought affected distribution points by ADA. CWS-P/A will ensure timely delivery and transportation of relief material to project sites.

Distribution of relief packages to selected families will begin immediately following procurement and transportation of relief items. ADA will handle the distribution process and issue cards to the selected beneficiaries, against which they will collect their relief items.

CWS-P/A will be responsible for submitting timely reports to the ACT Coordinating Office as per ACT policy and guidelines.

Implementation Period: 2 months.
The situation will continue to be monitored in case an Appeal needs to be considered.

Budget:

ACTION

The ACT Co-ordinating Office has approved the use of US$44,890 towards the budget from its Rapid Response Fund and would be grateful to receive contributions to wholly or partially replenish this payment. Should there be an appeal for this emergency, the RRF payment will be considered as an advance.