Pakistan

19 September 2023

Afghan refugees in Pakistan are facing increased protection concerns, mainly because of a lack of legal documentation. In mid-September 2023, the caretaker government in Pakistan announced working on a new policy that would send back all Afghans in an irregular status in Pakistan back to Afghanistan. Since that announcement, there has been an increase in the arrest of Afghan refugees. Over 500 Afghans have been arrested, including women and children, despite some holding required documentation. The proof of registration cards that Afghan refugees were provided as a legal document in Pakistan expired in June 2023. Since then, renewal has been difficult for most given bureaucratic hurdles. Without legal documentation, refugees face arrest, torture, and deportation, and they cannot access essential services, such as healthcare, education, or employment. Between January–August 2023, 747,000 Afghans voluntary or forcibly returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan, higher than 548,000 during the same period in 2022.
(DAWN 19/09/2023, TOLOnews 16/09/2023, OCHA 06/09/2023)

07 August 2023

Since mid-June 2023, heavy rainfall and flash floods have caused destruction across Pakistan, leading to 196 deaths and 283 injuries. The worst affected province is Balochistan, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir. As at 5 August, over 3,700 houses had been damaged, displacing more than 29,000 people from the flood-affected districts. In Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, emergency has been declared until 15 August. Heavy rainfall has destroyed roads and bridges in some areas, leaving the affected population without access to water, food, and medical supplies. The urgent needs of displaced people are food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies, and NFIs. According to preliminary analysis by UNOSAT based on the amount of rainfall between 26–30 July, ten million people are potentially exposed or residing near the flood-affected regions. (OCHA 08/08/2023, UNOSAT 07/08/2023, NDMA 05/08/2023)

16 May 2023

Pakistan is grappling with a severe food security crisis marked by a shortage of wheat and soaring food prices. This crisis is affecting low-income communities and flood-affected areas, where 14.6 million people require emergency food assistance. In 15 flood-affected districts, a recent survey found that one-third of children under two years old suffer from moderate acute malnutrition and 14% from severe acute malnutrition. With more than 4.4 million acres of agricultural land destroyed in the 2022 flood, wheat and rice production will be lower in 2023. Food price inflation continues to increase, reaching 48% in April. Several factors contribute to food scarcity, including adverse weather conditions, the macroeconomic crisis, political unrest, bureaucratic challenges, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The scarcity of food has resulted in social unrest and violence. The country's lower foreign reserves make it difficult to meet the increasing demand through imports. (WFP 10/05/2023, FSIN et al. 03/05/2023, CNBC 06/04/2023)

21 March 2023

As at March 21, more than six months after devastating floods hit Pakistan, 6.3 million people were still in need of WASH assistance, including safe drinking water. The flooding damaged most of the water systems in the affected areas, leaving over 5.4 million people, including 2.5 million children, relying solely on contaminated water.

Even before the floods, only 36% of the water in the country was considered safe for consumption. The prolonged lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, along with the continued proximity of flood-affected and flood-displaced families to bodies of stagnant water, is contributing to widespread outbreaks of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, diarrhoea, dengue, and malaria.

The lack of safe water and sanitation is also contributing to malnutrition, with over 1.5 million boys and girls already severely malnourished. The practice of open defecation has also increased by more than 14% in the flood-affected regions, disproportionately affecting children, adolescent girls, and women who are at added risk of shame and harm.
(WASH Cluster accessed 29/03/2023, UN 21/03/2023, UNICEF accessed 28/03/2023, Al Jazeera 21/03/2023, PD 24/03/2023, The New Arab 21/03/2023, Première Urgence Internationale 28/03/2023)