By Sumbul Rizvi
(June 25, 2011)
Afghanistan has experienced over 30 years of continuous conflict, both at the national and the local levels, linked to a struggle for dominance by different tribes, ethnic groups, and political orientations. Added to this is the difficult terrain, which has made the country prone to drought, earthquakes, and flash floods. To be sure, the cumulative impact of these challenges on civilians has been severe. However, no less profound have been the challenges that Afghan civilians have faced as the result of violence-induced displacement.
Civilian casualties (both deaths and injuries) are documented by the Human Rights (HR) Unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) through their Protection of Civilian Reports and also more recently by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. These generally provide a benchmark for the assessment of civilian security in the country. However, civilians are not only impacted by deaths and injuries but also by displacement due to acute fighting or fear thereof, or due to threats, intimidation, and political pressures.
This paper analyzes conflict-induced internal displacement in Afghanistan from 2010 to the first quarter of 2011. The term “conflict-induced IDPs” (IDPs-internally displaced persons) will be employed to refer to civilians fleeing active combat between the Afghan National Army (ANA), international military forces (IM), and a diverse insurgency as well as to those fleeing due to fear of persecution and intimidation by parties to the conflict and other armed groups.
