Standing Committee of the Executive Committee
of the High Commissioner's Programme
(29th Meeting)
9-11 March 2004

Agenda Item 3 (ii) (c)
NGO Statement on CASWANAME

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

This statement has been drafted in consultation with, and is delivered on behalf of, a wide range of NGOs.

Although the CASWANAME region has produced the world's largest refugee population, we have chosen to focus this brief statement on the situation in Afghanistan.

Since the end of 2001, the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons in Afghanistan has been characterised by the prospect for, and by, actual returns. We are concerned, however, that the good news on the return process ignores a number of significant and serious problems.

First, war is continuing in several rural parts of Afghanistan. The high insecurity prevailing in these areas is preventing people from returning to their original places of residence.

Closely related to the continuing insecurity in the rural areas is the fact that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is only deployed in some cities, where the war is not taking place. We call on the international community, in particular NATO, to strengthen and expand ISAF and to focus on creating a safe and stable environment in which aid and reconstruction activities can be carried out by civilian and humanitarian organisations.

NGOs have repeatedly pointed to the severe consequences of international military forces engaging in the non-military roles of humanitarian aid and reconstruction. Political and military decision-makers must realise that deploying their military to do a "humanitarian job" has blurred essential identities and violated basic humanitarian principles on which independent and impartial humanitarian action is founded. The current confusion over "who is who" and "who is doing what" may be one reason of why aid workers have become deliberate targets in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

Second, NGOs are concerned that while refugees and IDPs are returning, the large majority of these returnees are not able to return to their villages in the rural areas, but are moving to already over-crowded urban areas and cities. In fact, today's returnees are tomorrow's new IDPs. As a result, in the cities many of these people lack shelter and other basic services such as health care. In this respect, NGOs urge UNHCR and other relevant actors to improve the preparation and management of refugee and IDP returns.

Being the government's and UNHCR's close partners, NGOs wish to be fully involved and consulted in the planning and policy development processes, rather than being perceived as just implementers or sub-contractors.

With regards to finding durable solutions for IDPs, we call on the Afghan government, UNHCR, and other relevant actors to also consider local integration, instead of focussing exclusively on return.

Third, and finally, but not of the least importance is our concern about the changing status of Afghan refugees, particularly those in Iran. NGOs have reports of refugees' identity papers being withdrawn so as to push them to return. In this context, we call on the governments of Afghanistan's neighbouring countries to respect and uphold the principle of non-refoulement and to ensure that those Afghans who continue to have protection concerns are not returned to a situation in which they would experience violations of their human rights. We recall, in addition, that all Afghans, including so-called "migrants" have fundamental human rights that host governments must respect.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.