Summary:

The United Nations refugee agency reported today that more than 100,000 people have become displaced since January by Pakistani military operations against militant groups in the north-western part of the country that borders Afghanistan.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41671&Cr=Pakistan&Cr1=

[30 March 2012] - The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 101,160 people, mostly women and children, have been uprooted by the fighting that began on 20 January in the Khyber Agency region of the country’s Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA).

“New arrivals say that they left their homes because of the proximity of fighting and due to instructions by the authorities to evacuate the area,” a UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told reporters in Geneva.

She said a recent increase in the intensity of the fighting is driving even larger numbers of families to flee to the safety of the Jalozai camp, where UNHCR is registering them and providing them with basic humanitarian supplies.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food aid in Jalozai, located near the western city of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which was formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province.

UNHCR has been registering an average of 2,000 families per day since mid-March. All of those registered were provided with a UNHCR aid package, a hygiene kit from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and an initial one-month food supply.

There are some 62,818 people currently in the Jalozai camp, of which 47,134 were living in the camp before 17 March. Ms. Fleming noted that this is now the largest camp for internally displaced persons in Pakistan.

This is not the first time that a Pakistani military offensive has uprooted such large numbers of civilians. More than two million people were displaced by similar clashes between Government troops and militants in north-west Pakistan in 2009, leading to one of the largest displacement crises in the world.

More on children's rights in Pakistan.

Previous News release items

• 30/03/2012: AFGHANISTAN: Hundreds of Women, Girls Jailed for ‘Moral Crimes’ (Arabic)
• 30/03/2012: SYRIA: One million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance – UN-backed survey
• 30/03/2012: RUSSIA: Lawmakers introduce bill banning promotion of homosexuality to "protect" minors
• 30/03/2012: UNITED KINGDOM: X-ray pilot for child asylum-seekers sparks outrage
• 30/03/2012: UNITED STATES: New York city schools want to ban 'loaded words' from tests

Organisation Contact Details:

UN News Center

Last updated 02/04/2012 16:29:42

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.