Staggering Rise in Internally Displaced Persons in Afghanistan: Amnesty International

Amnesty International (AI), in a new report, has said that the number of Afghans displaced by violence and poverty has more than doubled over the past three years, from 500,000 to 1.2 million.

The report, My Children Will Die This Winter: Afghanistan's Broken Promise to the Displaced, states the organization found a dramatic surge in recent years of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan, reports Tolo News.

Based on the researchers' visits to Afghanistan in November 2015 and February 2016, the reports said the IDPs face numerous problems including inadequate shelter, a lack of food and water as well as access to education, healthcare and employment.

The report also casts light on the country's forgotten victims of war who have fled their homes but remain displaced within the country's borders.

"While the world's attention seems to have moved on from Afghanistan, we risk forgetting the plight of those left behind by the conflict," Tolo News quoted Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia director as saying.

She added, "Even after fleeing their homes to seek safety, increasing numbers of Afghans are languishing in appalling conditions in their own country, and fighting for their survival with no end in sight."

The report underlined that since being forced to flee their homes, IDP children's education has been interrupted and adults have been reduced to chronic unemployment.

Growing insecurity and a faltering economy were the major factors behind an increasing number of people fleeing their homes and communities in recent years, the report cited.

According to reports, Afghans form one of the world's largest refugee populations, with an estimated 2.6 million Afghan citizens living beyond the country's border.

The report highlighted that despite Afghan authorities promising to improve the conditions IDPs, it found that forced evictions from both government and private actors were a daily threat.

The Afghan government in 2014 endorsed a new National Policy on Internally Displaced Persons. However, Amnesty International found that the policy has not delivered for IDPs.

Very little has been done in practice despite comprehensive approach outlined. Amnesty International reported that the situation of internally displaced has worsened in the period since the policy was introduced.