IOM steps up IDP returns from Herat

With the return of some 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from displacement camps in the western Afghan city of Herat to the neighbouring northwestern province of Badghis, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is stepping up its efforts to return thousands of displaced families to their places of origin. "Every refugee and displaced person that returns home safely is an indication of the return of stability," Richard Danziger, the chief of IOM's mission in Afghanistan, told IRIN from the capital, Kabul, on Monday. "Stability and peace in Afghanistan, like any other country, implies that every displaced person can go home." With IOM's travel assistance last week, some 1,000 IDPs from Maslakh and Shaidayee camps in Herat returned to their villages of origin in Qal'eh-ye Now, Maghar, Darreh-ye Bum, Sang Atesh, Qades and Jawand districts of Badghis. A combination of drought and fighting had forced waves of farmers and nomads over the past many years to seek shelter in one of the numerous displacement camps in the south, west and north of the country. Aid agencies and the Afghan government estimate that 600,000 IDPs still live in such camps country-wide. Of the estimated 450,000 IDPs who returned to their places of origin from those camps last year, over half received some form of assistance. According to the IOM, some 65,000 IDPs live in the camps in Herat. With the resumption of the return programme in February, the agency's office in Herat had assisted a total of 6,158 IDPs from some 1,477 families in going back to their villages. Apart from the IOM's travel assistance, those returning receive a family package of non-food items from the UN Children's Fund, as well as food assistance from the UN World Food Programme, and tents from the IOM. Danziger maintained that the IOM had no security concerns in the districts of Badghis Province to which it helped IDPs return last week. "There are security concerns in other areas of the province," he said. Thousands of ethnic Pashtuns were forced out of northern Afghanistan after the fall of the hardline Taliban, who were predominantly ethnic Pashtun clerics from the south of the country. Starting on Thursday, the IOM, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Afghan Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation will conduct a joint registration exercise in the northern provinces Takhar, Jowzjan, Sar-e Pol, Faryab, Balkh, Samangan, Baghlan, Konduz and Badakhshan. The estimated 45,000 IDPs will be registered by 76 registration teams. This year, the IOM has been tasked with registering, returning and providing initial reintegration support for IDPs in the northern, western and central regions of Afghanistan where the estimated number of IDPs is 100,000. Danziger noted that Badghis received much less assistance compared to other parts of the country. "We are keeping a close eye on this. If we see that there are gaps, we will signal that to UNHCR and other NGOs working in the area," he said. Experts believe that the reintegration of millions of returning refugees and IDPs into their communities and local economies remains critical to Afghanistan's postwar reconstruction. Of the estimated 450,000 Afghans who returned to their places of origin from displacement camps across Afghanistan last year, over half received some form of assistance.