In Brief IDP numbers up in Afghanistan - UN

Armed hostilities have boosted the number of internally displaced persons to over 296,000 but an effective humanitarian response is being hampered by insecurity, the UN Secretary-General says in a new report to the UN Security Council.

“Many internally displaced persons remain unaccounted for as a result of the scattered nature of their displacement and lack of humanitarian access,” said the report entitled The Situation in Afghanistan and its Implications for International Peace and Security, dated 10 March and released on 16 March.

“The deterioration of Afghanistan’s security situation has continued, with 2009 being the most volatile year since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, averaging 960 security incidents per month, as compared with 741 in 2008. The situation worsened in January 2010, with the number of security incidents 40 per cent higher than in January 2009,” it said.

Meanwhile, as NATO and Afghan forces plan a major military operation in Kandahar Province in the coming months, local NGO Afghanistan Rights Monitor on 16 March called on UN agencies and other aid organizations “to act vigilantly and draw up appropriate humanitarian response planning which should mitigate the most likely humanitarian consequences of the conflict.”

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