A million euros is allocated to IOM to fund humanitarian relief actions in the Afghan provinces of Herat and Nimroz, which are on the border with Iran. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has made these funds available to help over 285,000 refugees, who returned from Iran with no IDs. The number of refugees is 150,000 more if compared to the same period a year earlier.
“Many refugees live in extreme poverty and need care, protection and support to promote their reintegration,” said Italian Ambassador to Kabul, Roberto Cantone. “Some of them have suffered abuses and their rights have been violated,” the Ambassador concluded.
The Italian contribution will help the IOM build a new transit centre in the Nimroz province, where improved measures will be implemented to screen and register people at the border. A local refugee department operates in the province in cooperation with UNHCR, WFP, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, Relief international and the Norwegian Refugee Council. The Italian contribution will help train healthcare personnel to provide psychosocial support, along with specialised care services for 200 returnees that are particularly vulnerable. Monitoring studies will be conducted in the most important centres located along the border in order to track the displaced. The data collected will be shared with international partners, with a view to provide more accurate information that in turn will improve the humanitarian response. According to the IOM, nearly 30% of returnees are in need of life-saving humanitarian support, but lack of funds makes it possible to serve only 7% of the people in need.
The large flow of refugees is partly due to an economic crisis now underway in Iran, but it also depends on worsening security conditions in the country. It has triggered an increase in the number of the displaced that flee the most dangerous areas.
