Humanitarian information to Afghan refugees stressed
PESHAWAR: A research study conducted by Pakistan-based media watchdog Freedom Network in cooperation with DW Akademie, has found an urgent need for extending humanitarian information to Afghan refugees in Pakistan who fled Afghanistan after the political developments in Kabul in the late summer of 2021.
According to the study, “Afghan Refugees in Pakistan: Live in Limbo,” 85 percent of respondents said they needed information from the UN refugee agency UNHCR about their status in Pakistan while 80 per cent said they were looking for inside information about Afghanistan and about their communities in Pakistan.
“The survey points to an urgent need for filling information gaps. Information is life and we must protect these lives by providing information they need in a time of dislocation. Information is vital while extending any humanitarian assistance to these refugees,” Iqbal Khattak, Executive Director of Freedom Network, said while releasing the research study.
Earlier, Freedom Network released a similar research study - “Afghan Exiled Journalists in Pakistan: Lives in Limbo.” The surveyed journalists expressed an urgent need for humanitarian assistance as well as ways and means to resume journalism while in exile.
Sixty-three per cent of Afghan respondents said they were using the internet to access current information while 58 per cent radio for this purpose, according to the study. Only 21 per cent were watching television and 16 per cent reading newspapers for getting news about Afghanistan.
“Majority of respondents expressed the need for various professional resources to access information in Pakistan. Fifty per cent expressed the need for access to the internet, while 25 per cent felt that they needed digital training; 10 per cent said they needed professional training,” the research study found.
The collapse of the Afghan government under Ashraf Ghani in August 2021 forced hundreds of thousands of Afghans to leave their country.
According to the study, “No less than 300,000 Afghan citizens have fled to Pakistan. However, unlike in the past, Pakistan is not willing to take another influx and refuses to recognize them as refugees,” the research study’s findings said.
The newly arrived refugees in Pakistan face numerous challenges such as healthcare costs, access to hospitals and clinics, medicines affordability, vaccination in general and Covid vaccination certification, the study findings said.
According to the study, housing is a major challenge for Afghan refugees in Pakistan because all legal documents including rental agreements in Pakistan require an identification card.
“While foreigners may rent a house, most stringent legal requirements often apply. Up to 90 per cent of respondents face problems in contracting rental agreements, while 82 per cent face problems in providing contractual guarantees while 45 per cent face difficulty in getting long term residency.”
Ninety per cent of respondents have no financial support available to them as they were financing themselves and just five per cent of responders found support from national or international NGOs, while five per cent had some other source of support that they did not want to specify.
Islamabad’s refusal to allow a new influx of refugees also brought worries for the newly arrived Afghans.
“We have a clear policy: no new influx is accepted. Rather, efforts should be made by the international community to assist them in their own country by providing food, and necessities,” Chief Afghan Refugees Commissioner Saleem Khan replied to written questions from Freedom Network.
He continued: “Pakistan asserts that, unlike the past, threats of persecution or threats to life and property to the people of Afghanistan do not exist. Rather, Afghanistan is currently facing a shortage of food, medicines, and other needs due to the financial situation and droughts. This situation requires assistance from the International Community within Afghanistan.”
