Five million dollars of new funding from the Japanese government
supporting IOM's work to address some of the growing consequences
of poverty and insecurity on migration in Afghanistan will provide
a critical lifeline to many victims of trafficking and vulnerable
migrants.

Increasing poverty through drought, higher food prices and
general insecurity in a country where 85 per cent of the average
household income is spent on food and where 14 million people are
at risk of nutrition-related health problems, is forcing growing
numbers of Afghans into taking desperate measures to survive.

An IOM staff assessment at Torkham, on the border with Pakistan,
recently found the majority of the children crossing the border to
smuggle food and other goods to be victims of trafficking. Aged
between 10 and 16 years of age, the children had been placed into
bonded labour to pay family debts that had arisen from crop
failures brought on by drought.

Informants in the area claim child trafficking is increasing
this year because boys in particular are considered ideal smugglers
of food and illicit goods as they are more likely to be released
when captured.

Women and young girls, particularly widows, are also reportedly
being forced into prostitution or baby selling so as to buy food
for the family. These women, many of whom should be legally
considered trafficked, often face prison or the death sentence
under Afghan law for having "unlawful sex".

Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) and the
Ministry of Interior's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) both
found a dramatic increase in the numbers of trafficking,
kidnapping, prostitution and smuggling cases in 2008 with MOWA
attributing growing poverty and the deteriorating security as the
main causes. 

The reasons are the same for the many Afghans migrating
irregularly to neighbouring countries. Iran is estimated to be
hosting about one million Afghans at any one time in addition to
roughly 900,000 registered Afghans. Numbers of Afghans being
returned from Iran increased in 2008 with virtually all of them
single males largely supporting families back home.

Left at the Islam Qala and Zaranj borders with Iran with
nothing, no hope for the future, and receiving humanitarian
assistance largely reserved for the sick, elderly, women and
children, the men usually end up in a continual cycle of irregular
migration that increases their risk to exploitation, abuse and
human trafficking.  

In a bid to enable the most vulnerable returnees to survive
continuing hardship, the Japanese funding will partly be used to
provide them with non-food assistance to complement the work of the
World Food Programme (WFP). IOM will also assist with
transportation from border areas in Herat and Nimroz provinces to
final home destinations.

The Japanese funds will also be used to provide direct
assistance to trafficking victims through the construction of a
rehabilitation centre in Kabul after IOM found there was currently
no place in Afghanistan suitable for assisting victims of
trafficking on a long-term basis, especially children. The centre
will help provide shelter, food, clothing, medical care,
psycho-social support and vocational and educational opportunities
for victims of trafficking as well as referrals for long-term
reintegration assistance.

IOM will, in addition, involve NGOs in its counter-trafficking
work to build up local skills and knowledge in identifying,
assisting and referring trafficking victims whilst also training
one NGO to run the rehabilitation centre.

Border guards in Herat and Nangarhar provinces will also be
targeted for training on how to identify and treat a victim of
trafficking so as to strengthen national efforts to fight the
crime.

For further information, please contact:

Ivan Davalos

IOM Afghanistan

Tel: +93 20 220 10 22

E-mail: "mailto:idavalos@iom.int">idavalos@iom.int