(Adnkronos) – According to an analysis by Save the Children, on average about every 30 seconds, a child returns to Afghanistan from Iran or Pakistan, at a time when almost half of the Afghan population needs humanitarian assistance. This is according to a statement from the Organization, which has been fighting for over 100 years to save children at risk and guarantee them a future. Four years after the Taliban’s return to power triggered a mass exodus of Afghans to neighboring countries, Afghanistan is grappling with a new migration crisis, Save the Children highlights.
According to the data, more than 800,000 children have entered Afghanistan from Pakistan and especially from Iran this year, which marks an average of about three out of four children returning from the country. A figure that records double the number of entries compared to last year, when both countries had set deadlines for the repatriation of irregular migrants and refugees.
Most children enter Afghanistan carrying only what they can carry and thousands of them are without parents or guardians. Many are foreigners in their homeland, born in neighboring countries or having spent years as refugees or migrants. Save the Children has seen large groups of families living in parks and open spaces in Afghanistan’s main cities.
A 12-year-old boy was forced to leave Pakistan and move to Afghanistan with his nine siblings. Save the Children is supporting the family at a transit center. “I was at the madrasa (a religious school) when my father rushed in and told us we had to leave,” he said. “We quickly packed our bags and got on a big truck with others. It was hot. We had no food or water. I want us to find a home, go to school and get back to living a good life. I want to feel safe and do something for myself.”
The father told Save the Children that the family left Pakistan “empty-handed and heartbroken” and that he currently has no home, job or any means to support his family. “We Afghans are always on the move,” he said. “But I didn’t want this life for my children. We lost our home, our books, even our family photos. We only took what we could carry with us, mainly clothes and important documents. The rest, we had to leave behind. It was like escaping a fire.”
Even before this wave of returns, almost half of the population in Afghanistan needed humanitarian assistance and one in five children was facing critical levels of hunger. At the same time, Afghanistan is also facing massive internal displacement and many children are forced to leave their homes due to extreme weather events. The severe drought in the northern provinces of the country is causing crops to wither and water supplies for people and their livestock to dwindle.
“The scale and pace of returns to Afghanistan right now is unprecedented,” said Samira Sayed Rahman, Save the Children’s advocacy director in Afghanistan. “We are on the brink of a full-scale humanitarian crisis, the likes of which we haven’t seen before. Roughly every 30 seconds, a child is returning or has been forced back to the country. That’s equivalent to about a classroom full of children every 15 minutes. Many of them are exhausted, terrified and fearful about how they will survive in a country that is already facing deep hunger and poverty after four years. Thousands of children are returning alone, without family or access to basic services. The fallout from this year’s massive aid cuts has left humanitarian teams overwhelmed by the sheer volume of need. This is a severely under-resourced, underfunded and neglected crisis. And it’s children who will pay the highest price.”
With increasing pressure on resources due to aid cuts this year, Afghanistan faces increasingly complex challenges in providing essential services, particularly for vulnerable populations such as returnees, host communities and children.
Save the Children calls on countries in the region to ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe and dignified. Coercing or pressuring children to return, especially those without guardians, can increase the risk of exploitation, abuse and neglect. The Organization also calls on the international community to urgently increase funding to meet both basic needs upon arrival at the border and to provide long-term assistance to help returnees settle in Afghanistan. Since March, Save the Children in Afghanistan has supported over 150,000 children returning to Afghanistan. Save the Children’s response is expanding to include a health and nutrition clinic and multi-purpose cash assistance at the border, child protection services at the transit center, and health services in return areas in Herat.
