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We
inform about Afghanistan
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This
newsletter is about Terre
des hommes’ emergency assistance to vulnerable displaced
people in northern Afghanistan, which started September 2000 and
successfully ended April 2001. With financial assistance of Chaine
du Bonheur, Swiss Development Cooperation and ECHO,
Terre des hommes has
provided humanitarian aid to the suffering civilian population –
focusing on food distribution, food for work programs and mass
immunization campaigns against polio and measles.
The internally displaced people who fled the frontline areas last
September had the fewest options and had nothing but the clothing
they were wearing. Children, pregnant women, elderly people and
the sick ones were particularly vulnerable, since they had long
distances to walk, and limited food resources.
Displacement for children is also a more serious issue: Displaced
children are especially affected by experiencing family
separation, loss of community identity and particularly the loss
of resources such as education and recreation, which could
contribute to assist in coping with suddenly changed situations.
They see their parents for the first time depending on handouts
and charity, and they notice their parents’ frustration and
shame, because they are unable to provide food for their children.
In the longer term these experiences will certainly add to their
trauma of the forced displacement.
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The
history of TDH' emergency
intervention in Rustaq
Rustaq district is a very remote mountainous region in
northern Afghanistan – very difficult to reach and to access.
Mid of September 2000 around 1.000 refugee families arrived in
Rustaq following the fierce fighting in Taloqan, northern
Afghanistan. Terre des hommes provided immediately initial
funding for these internally displaced people in order to meet
their food requirements and to get the necessary time to launch a
major emergency project. End of October the number of displaced
families grew up to 1.500 families – just weeks ahead of the
harsh winter months. An emergency team of Terre des hommes
(Tdh) expatriate and local staff arrived beginning of November in
Rustaq in order to plan and implement the project.
Achievements
In
close cooperation with other agencies like MSF-CH, UNICEF, WHO and
others, and by involving local government authorities, community
representatives, IDPs and IDP elders, the emergency team planned
and implemented an intervention, which was to some extend
community based and focused. The team also successfully managed to
contribute to re-establish a supportive framework and routine
activities in Rustaq town.
Health
As a first step
TDH rehabilitated the existing clinic in Rustaq, provided
medicines and medical equipment. During the emergency period a
team of medical doctors and nurses treated 6.016 women and
children patients; 39 critical patients were hospitalized and
treated successfully.
Vaccination
teams vaccinated 22.702 children against measles in a mass
immunization campaign throughout the whole district; the teams
also immunized 37.595 children, aged 0-5 years, against polio
during National Days on Immunization.
4.209 women, aged between 15 and 45 years received tetanus
vaccination, DPT, TT and BCG. 171 malnourished children were
identified and they received special care and food with treatment.
Mass
immunization against meastes
The
first reports of outbreaks of measles reached the emergency team
in December. A plan for a massive immunization campaign against
measles with MSF, SCA and UNICEF was planned according to
different figures provided from other districts. 93 people,
drivers, vaccinators, reporters etc, were hired, horses, donkeys
and cars organized, a center for vaccination in Rustaq town clinic
established in order to reach out to the remotest villages
throughout the district. In collaboration with MSF and UNICEF, Terre
des hommes managed to immunize 22.702 children aged between 6
months and 5 years – thus reaching a total coverage of 95%. This
immunization activity reduces clearly the possibility of a huge
crisis in the area since not any of the children under 3 years old
– children from the area as well as refugee children - were
previously immunized and the “virus was present”.
Mass
immunization against polio
Terre des
hommes was requested by WHO
to coordinate and implement the ‘National Days on
Immunization’ in Rustaq district to immunize all children
against polio.
On 16th of April WHO arrived with 46.220 vaccines and Swedish
Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) provided vaccine
containers.
Local communities provided 140 volunteers for 70 vaccination
teams. 15 social mobilizers were chosen from the communities and
under the supervision of previously trained supervisors sent out
to the three areas of the district. The vaccination team reached
almost all of the 173 villages of the district, even those ones,
which are close to the frontlines. The cold chain could be
maintained by snow and ice – locally found in high mountain
areas. Through home vaccination in the villages and involvement of
local volunteers from the communities the whole campaign was
well-integrated and community participation achieved. 140
volunteers immunized 37.595 Children against polio from 17th
to 19th of April.
Food
and non-food assistance
Besides a major
health intervention the team of Terre des hommes had also
to feed the approximately 12.000 displaced people throughout the
winter as well as to provide fuel and cooking utensils and tools
for survival.
The proximity to the frontlines, the blockade of roads due to
climate conditions and on-going fighting required a lot of
logistics to procure rice, chickpeas, cooking oil etc. for the
suffering population.
Terre des hommes supplied 146.880 kg of rice, 73.440 kg of
edible oil, 73.440 kg chickpeas, 51.300 L cooking fuel, 1.125
kerosene stoves and 250 sets of tools.
The beneficiaries were men, women, disabled people, especially
vulnerable people and children.
'Food-for-Work'
programs for women
Terre
des hommes tried to consider the special needs of displaced
women in Rustaq by offering them tailor-made ‘food-for-work’
programs. With the support and agreement of local authorities
houses for women’s projects were rented and material for sewing
and quilt making provided including sewing machine and other
necessary tools.
250 women were included in the program to produce clothes for
needy children. The women received rice, edible oil and chickpeas
plus 25% of their own production for their own children. All the
clothes were distributed to 750 poor families with priority to
refugees.
'Food-for-Work'
programs for men
Right
from the beginning Terre des hommes was engaged in free
food distribution to the needy IDP population in Rustaq. 2.700
families received food rations of rice, edible oil, chickpeas and
cooking fuel. Since the local population was already seriously
affected by the drought and suffering from unemployment, poverty
and food shortages, Terre des hommes replaced free food
distribution with
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‘food-for-work’
programs – offered to all impoverished people in Rustaq. This
change was long awaited by community leaders and refugee
representatives since tensions were growing and people
running out of food resources.
2.940 men were included in the program. They managed to rehabilitate
2 km roads within the town of Rustaq. Supervised by engineers they
made strong stone foundations, provided gravel and sand as
technically required.
Lessons
to be Learned
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Emergency
intervention programs are usually focusing on immediate needs of
food, shelter and health care and not addressing psychological needs
of children by offering recreation, educational support and other
activities.
Displacement damages the security offered by family networks and
relationships and creates an unpredictable environment for children.
It causes a great deal of psychological distress and trauma among
children as well as adults and the impact on their development is so
far not known. Displacement causes changes of social roles, status
and responsibilities within the families; it causes also poverty and
leads to restrictions on lifestyles and customs, and often it forces
children to work in order to support their families.
Terre
des hommes
must try to integrate programs for children within the framework of
emergency intervention programs. Staff members need training to
better understand psychological problems and distress affecting
displaced children. Emergency intervention programs implemented by Terre
des hommes should provide educational support, recreational
activities and consultation for children. |
Lessons
Learned
Food-for-work
programs designed for women and men significantly contributed to a
better social well-being of the IDPs. They were able to “earn”
some income or food.
The people ere encouraged to actively participate in all project
activities. Survey teams were composed by IDPs and non-IDPs in order
to assess the needs of the affected population in town. Teams of
IDPs monitored food distribution in order to efficiently meet the
needs of suffering people and to take responsibility for their own
affairs IDPs were employed through ‘food-for-work’ programs to
register, monitor and organize distribu-ion of food and non-food
items. Finally the team of TDH managed to significantly reduce
tensions with in populations by providing benefits like
‘food-for-work’ and health services to everybody – focusing on
the most vulnerable people of Rustaq.
Afghan
News
Following
news are quoted from “The News”, published in Pakistan:
21
April: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia has beaten back an
attack by opposition forces in the central province of Bamyan, a
report said on Friday.
23 April: Taliban Sunday said a trip by United States officials to
the country’s drought-hit areas this week marked an
acknowledgement by Washington that Afghans needed assistance, not
sanctions.
24 April: Camps for fleeing drought and fighting in western
Afghanistan are swelling by around 1,000 new arrivals every day,
raising fears of epidemics, the United Nations said Monday.
24 April: The Afghan opposition commander, General Abdur Rashid
Dostum, who recently returned to Afghanistan after spending some
years abroad, left for Balkhab district of Sarr-I-Pul province to
organise his forces and lauch offensives against the Taliban forces,
reports said on Monday.
26 April:
The United Nations displacement Chief, Dennis McNamara, warned of a
great catastrophe in Afghanistan if substantial international help
does not reach Afghanistan within two to three months.
28 April: Almost 300 persons fall victim to the land-mines every
month, scattered over a vast area in Afghanistan, said Manager of
the United Nations Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan Dane Kelly
here on Thursday.
30 April: A UN team, which has returned from Afghanistan, says that
humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is the worst in any part of the
world, Voice of America reports.
30 April: Heavy
fighting raged Sunday between Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and
their northern-based opponents on several fronts, the opposition
said.
1 May: The ruling Taliban militia and opposition forces were locked
in heavy fighting in northern Afghanistan Monday ahead of a visit by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to assess the
country’s humanitarian crisis.
2 May: Reports from Afghanistan’s opposition alliance sources say
that the Taliban have lost the strategic Tangi Farkhar following
heaving fighting that left dozens dead and injured on both sides.
2 May: The Taliban forces have repulsed an offensive of the
opposition in Borka district, in Baghlan province and inflicted
heavy losses on the rivals, the Taliban-controlled Radio Shariat
reported on Tuesday.
3 May: The Talibans have launched their long-expected summer
offensive in northern Afghanistan
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The
Swiss Foundation of Terre des hommes together with its local
partner NGO ASCHIANA signed on 24th of May a new protocol
with the Ministry of Public Health of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan. This protocol will enable Terre des hommes &
ASCHIANA to establish a health education center for women and girls
in Kabul.
This is considered to be a major break-through since the Taliban
authorities have banned 1998 all street-working girls to attend the
four centers for street-working children in Kabul city.
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in
a bid to overwhelm opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood, the
opposition said on Saturday.
4 May: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban Thursday rejected a six-month
ceasefire proposed by UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud
Lubbers, saying it would only prolong the conflict.
6 May: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia Saturday captured an
opposition stronghold in central Bamiyan province, senior militia
officials said.
8 May: Taliban militia on Monday foiled an opposition attack to
recapture a key base in northern Takhar province as heavy fighting
continued at several places, Taliban officials said.
10 May: Heavy fighting resumed in northern Afghanistan Wednesday as
the ruling Taliban militia launched a pre-dawn offensive against a
key opposition-held area, opposition officials said.
10 May: The ruling Taliban militia Wednesday confirmed it had
ordered the UN to close four political offices in Afghanistan in
retaliation for the closure of its New York office following the
imposition of UN sanctions.
11 May: Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented vulnerability as
nearly one million people are facing acute shortage of food, says
the office of United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan.
18 May: Ismael Khan, a former governor of western Herat province and
a key opposition ally, has returned from Iran amid anti-Taliban
plans to launch an new offensive against the ruling militia, the
opposition said Thursday.
20 May: The continued factional fighting, long dry spell and
dilapidated
infrastructure have turned most of the people living in
Afghanistan’s northern province of Badakhshan vulnerable to deadly
diseases with “almost nil” health facilities, said an NGO Medair
that has recently concluded a survey in Yawan district.
20 May: The foreign staff of an Italian-funded hospital left Kabul,
two days after the ruling Taliban militia violently raided the
medical centre and arrested some workers, said officials on
Saturday.
23 May: Islamabad:
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers ordered the country's non-Muslim
minorities on Tuesday to wear a distinctive badge on their dress
while going outdoors.
23 May: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that female
expatriates are not allowed to drive a vehicle in Afghanistan.
24 May: The Taliban while defending a decree requiring non-Muslims
to wear yellow badges Wednesday said it aimed to protect Hindus and
other minorities from the demands of religious police enforcing
Muslim rules.
27 May: The World Food Programme Saturday threatened to close
its bakeries feeding 282,000 people in Kabul by June 15 it
its surveyors remain unable to determine the most needy people.
30 May: The Taliban regime has tightened restrictions for women with
a new edict against close-fitted burqa, the full-body veil women are
required to wear, a report said Thursday. Women in the Islamic
militia’s southern stronghold of Kandahar have been ordered to
cover their bodies with a loose burqa so their curves are not
revealed, the Afghan Islamic Press said.
2 June: The Amnesty International said both the warring sides are
committing gross human rights violations in Afghanistan and share
the blame for inflicting chaos and misery upon their people.
3 June: Fighting subsided in northeastern Afghanistan Saturday after
a strong earthquake jolted the region overnight killing at least
three people and damaging scores of houses, opposition officials
said.
Published
by:
Terre des hommes Liaison Delegation Office
P.O.Box 729 UT
Peshawar
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Email: tdhkabul@brain.net.pk
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