Since 2015, a series of political, security, and socioeconomic developments, along with several complex natural disasters, have forced large numbers of Afghans to leave their homes to seek protection and assistance in other locations across Afghanistan. UNHCR estimates that at least 2 million Afghans were displaced countrywide at the end of 2018, including IDP displaced in previous years. The conflict in Afghanistan will likely continue. Peace negotiations may not conclude quickly, and widespread forced displacement is likely to continue.
In the context of Afghanistan, displaced populations often benefit from the support of the host communities, largely relying on tribal affiliation or extended families’ support. However, multiple displacement and the loss of social and community support increased the socio-economic vulnerability of IDPs.
In 2020, UNHCR will continue to co-lead the Protection Cluster and co-chair the Emergency Shelter/Non-Food Items (ES/NFI) Cluster, and work together with the Government of Afghanistan and all stakeholders to ensure a coordinated response to the IDP situation. In order to support evidence-based programming, UNHCR will further strengthen information management together with other actors.
UNHCR will continue protection monitoring activities at all accessible levels, to gather, verify and analyse information to identify violations of rights and protection risks of people of concern, through organized participatory dialogue with communities and people of concern. Protection monitoring will be conducted in emergency, post-emergency and prolonged situations of displacement. UNHCR will aim to expand its protection footprint as much as possible, utilizing the presence of protection actors on the ground. Overall some 40,000 families will be reached through protection monitoring, including in coordination with the Protection Cluster.
UNHCR will continue to mainstream SGBV in its protection activities and will reinforce measures to prevent and respond to SGBV, including strengthening complaint and feedback mechanisms. UNHCR will work more intensively under the coordination of the Protection Cluster, the GBV sub-Cluster and other forums to reinforce referral mechanisms to specialised institutions. Awareness campaigns will be organised during international events. UNHCR will prioritize the empowerment of women and youth in its community-based protection programmes with the aim of economically empowering women and girls and increasing their participation in decision-making.
As a lead agency of the ES/NFI cluster, UNHCR will continue to advocate with humanitarian actors for transitional shelter assistance or other forms of assistance, i.e. cash for rent, including for returnees. UNHCR will promote access to adequate shelter for protection outcomes through coordination, advocacy, and partnership with development actors and Government institutions to identify shelter solutions and build community resilience. Due to the limited resources, UNHCR will only provide limited emergency shelter assistance where it is the only measure to address the acute protection risk.
While UNHCR will maintain its contingency core relief items (CRIs) stock for 10,000 households, it will focus its limited resources on conflict-induced IDPs, and support the advocacy and coordination of response to IDPs induced by natural disasters.
UNHCR will further explore the increased use of cash-based interventions, bearing in mind numerous challenges which need to be taken into account in the roll-out of CBIs, including the lack of documentation, the lack of infrastructure in the national financial service sector, the absence of functioning markets in many host areas, limited access due to insecurity, and the risks of fraud. As such, distribution of core-relief items in kind may remain an important mean of providing emergency assistance to displaced people.