15 October 2001

Human Smugglers Newest Threat to Afghan Refugees

Washington -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that Afghans with money are now turning to human smugglers to get them into Iran or Pakistan, countries that have both officially closed their borders with Afghanistan.

In an October 15 report, the U.N.'s lead agency for issues surrounding refugees and displaced persons expressed concern about smugglers' potential exploitation of Afghans as they attempt to escape the turmoil in their Central Asian nation. After traveling to border regions from distant places elsewhere in the country, UNHCR reported that would-be refugees are forced to turn to smugglers for help in exiting the country, paying them about $100 per family, "a huge sum in Afghanistan and well beyond the reach of most families."

Offering a broader report of the humanitarian effort, UNHCR notes progress in the construction of facilities to accommodate an expected outflow of refugees who may flee bombing and further violence. Work is progressing at four camps in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and two new camps are expected to begin in a few days.

Progress in this work is notable because UNHCR last week reported several days of delay caused by security concerns and other logistical obstacles.

Delivery of food into a country where famine looms as a real possibility is another priority for the many agencies mobilized to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Central Asia. The U.S. government reports that as of October 15, the Department of Defense had airdropped almost 276,000 humanitarian daily rations into the country.

Transporting food supplies into the country on overland routes will provide the greatest relief to those Afghans at risk. International relief agencies estimate that 5 to 7 million Afghans could face starvation this winter after three years of drought have destroyed crops and diminished food supplies.

The World Food Program (WFP) is coordinating convoys of food to move into Afghanistan from points in Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. On October 15, WFP started moving 1,500 tons of supplies from Peshawar, Pakistan to the provinces around Kabul. In the west from Turkmenistan, plans are under way to transport 5,200 tons of wheat to the western Afghan city of Herat.

Not all aid shipments move smoothly, however. The U.N. Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs reports October 16 that no food convoys are moving from Quetta, Pakistan into southwestern Afghanistan because the Taliban has demanded significant fees as the trucks have attempted to cross the border. Upon the first report of this irregularity October 12, WFP described these attempts to impede delivery of the aid as isolated incidents. WFP vows it will not pay any type of duty on humanitarian deliveries, so the future use of this route remains uncertain.

The prospect of starvation and the onset of winter creates great urgency in the aid deliveries. In the higher elevations of Afghanistan's mountainous regions, winter snows can begin in November. The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) is especially concerned about how harsh weather can endanger the youngest victims.

National projections about the potential for fatalities caused by harsh conditions are impossible to calculate because of the difficulty of information gathering. But at one refugee camp alone last winter, UNICEF did record the deaths of 100 children due to exposure.

"We're quite concerned about how little time remains before winter arrives in full," said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF. "We've got basically one month left to purchase and deliver twice as much relief as we've already sent in. Time is not on our side. We all have to move as fast as possible."

On October 13 a five-truck UNICEF convoy with children's sweaters, blankets and household family kits reached Kandahar. Three flights arrived in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan between October 10-15, carrying more than 15,000 blankets, 60,000 units of therapeutic food, safe water containers for 20,000 families, emergency health supplies for two million people for three months, and school supplies for 50,000 primary school students.

According to data compiled by the U.S. Agency for International Development, relief flights operated by UNHCR, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and the Government of Japan have transported more than 1,700 tents, 21,000 blankets and almost 20,000 plastic sheets into the region to further prepare the Afghan people for winter.

The U.S. government has provided more than $15 million in aid to the international effort for Afghanistan just since October 1. The U.S. contributed about $180 million last year, and has pledged more than $300 million for the current year.