Returns to Afghanistan in 2018: Joint IOM-UNHCR Summary Report
Publisher: International Organization for Migration, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Date: 2019
Topics: Disasters, Humanitarian Assistance, Land, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Afghanistan
2018 brought new and daunting challenges to Afghans on the move, seriously affecting the nation’s absorption capacity and the ability of returnees to find sustainable livelihoods. At the same time, one of the worst droughts in living memory struck Afghanistan and impacted the lives of more than two-thirds of Afghans, devastating the agricultural sector and leaving some 4 million people across the country in need of life-saving assistance, including 3.9 million in need of food and livelihoods support. When combined with the historic return numbers and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in remittance payments from family members abroad, 1 the consequences for return and displacement have been stark. Each year, many thousands of Afghans return from the neighbouring Islamic Republics of Iran and Pakistan and other countries, and these returns are impacted by a range of push and pull factors. The sizeable return caseload further burdens the already overstretched absorption capacity of local host communities. The primary needs of returning Afghans include food, livelihoods, access to land, long-term shelter, and access to services including health, education and legal assistance. The Displacement and Return Executive Committee (DiREC), set up in 2016, continues to highlight the plight of returning Afghans and seeks their inclusion in national development planning and programming.