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Afghanistan

ICRC Activities in Afghanistan Jan - Apr 2008

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) began helping Afghan people in 1979 from Pakistan, providing medical and surgical assistance to the war-wounded in Peshawar and Quetta. Since 1987, the ICRC has been present in Afghanistan. Today, with 80 delegates and 1,176 national staff, it is one of the ICRC's biggest operations. The main ICRC delegation is located in Kabul. Other ICRC offices are in Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Gulbahar, Faizabad and Bamyan.

People Deprived of their Freedom and Restoring Family Links

The ICRC visits detainees held as a result of conflict by the Afghan authorities and international forces (US and NATO) to regularly assess the conditions of detention, the treatment of detainees and respect of fundamental judicial guarantees. It also helps families trace relatives with whom they lost contacts. It:

- carried out 86 visits in 47 places of detention holding 10,100 detainees; followed up individually 1,639 persons arrested in relation with the conflict or the security situation, of whom 435 were visited for the first time and registered;

- provided assistance to 87 released detainees to travel home;

- with support of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, the ICRC collected over 6,250 Red Cross Messages (RCMs) and distributed more than 4,740 RCMs, mostly between detainees and their families;

- started the video-teleconference call program allowing for the first time detainees held at US detention facility in Bagram to speak and see their family member. Until April, 655 video calls were made.

Ensuring respect for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) provisions

The internationally recognised ICRC's mandate provides for monitoring the respect of IHL by persons bearing arms. In that respect, the ICRC enters into confidential dialogue with all parties to the conflict: Afghan national security forces, international forces and armed opposition. Alleged abuses against all persons not taking part in the hostilities are confidentially discussed with relevant authorities in an effort to prevent recurrences and to minimize the effects of war on the population. In line with its independent action, the ICRC has acted repeatedly as a neutral intermediary in prison riots and has also facilitated the collection of bodies from the battlefield, allowing the respective families to complete their mourning.

Health Care

The ICRC supports and trains national health authorities at hospital level in JPHH1 in Jalalabad, Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar and Sheberghan Hospital in Jawzjan. It maintains their capacity to provide essential and quality surgical services to victims affected by the conflict or other emergencies. In Kandahar, the ICRC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), started to implement the Essential Package of Hospital Services. These three hospitals:

- provided services to 14,451 in-patients and 74,801outpatients;

- performed 6,263operations;

The ICRC also provided:

- ad hoc medical supplies to hospitals in Kabul and up-country such as Afghan National Army (ANA) 400-beds hospital, Aliabad, Maiwand and Herat hospitals and the Central Blood Bank and Radiology Department at MoPH level;

- supplies, financial support and supervision to 9 Afghan Red Crescent clinics in east and south Afghanistan that gave consultations and provided vaccination to women and children;

Recalling the right of every war wounded to receive medical assistance and in line with its humanitarian action, the ICRC has provided 250 emergency consignments for first aid and pre-hospital care for war wounded in remote areas of the country, where other health structures are not available.

Rehabilitation for the Disabled

Since 1988, the ICRC has been involved in orthopedic and rehabilitation assistance and social reintegration of disabled people, from landmine victims to those with motor impairment due to any cause. Some 83,000 patients (over 33,117 amputees) have been assisted since then. The ICRC runs six orthopedic centres in: Kabul, Mazar, Herat, Gulbahar, Faizabad and Jalalabad. They have a home care service for spinal cord injured patients to offer the paraplegics and their families medical, economic and social support. The centres:

- registered 1,928 new patients and made 4,639 prostheses and orthoses;

- provided 56,543 physiotherapy treatments;

- granted micro credit loans to 170 patients to start their own business ventures, while 82 were trained in various jobs;

- assisted 1,173 spinal cord injured patients. In Kabul only, 1,349 homecare visits were carried out.

Water and Habitat

The ICRC's work includes re-establishing urban and rural water networks, sanitation projects and rehabilitation work in hospitals as well as hygiene promotion and environmental health training. The ICRC:

- continued five water supply projects in Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar, Kandahar and Maimana plus four minor projects in Bamyan for over 35,000 beneficiaries;

- continued to ensure basic water and sanitation conditions in detention places in Kabul, Jalalabad, Farah, Samanghan, Mazar, Shibirghan and Kandahar provinces for over 2,500 detainees;

- held 444 sessions on hygiene promotion to 6,220 people in public places (hammam, school, mosque); provided education and practical advices on hygiene to 2,109 households;

- continued to maintain the general infrastructure of Kandahar hospital and of the surgical wards of Jalalabad (JPHH1).

Emergency Material Assistance

The ICRC provides emergency assistance to people displaced and living without shelter due to the armed conflict and to those severely affected by natural disasters. These are distributed to beneficiaries with the ARCS's support. The emergency assistance consisted of:

- 3,588 food kits (rice, beans, ghee, salt, sugar and tea) and 2,509 non-food kits (tarpaulins, blankets, jerry cans, kitchen sets and soap) to 2,444 displaced families (17,237 individuals) affected by the conflict essentially in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces, southern Afghanistan as well as in parts of eastern and central Afghanistan, and 1,677 families (11,739 individuals) affected by heavy snow falls and harsh cold temperatures in all parts of the country, but particularly in the west.

Promotion of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) teaching

The ICRC's mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening compliance with IHL. The ICRC held:

- 51 dissemination sessions for 1,302 members of provincial authorities, staff and volunteers of ARCS, community elders, religious circles, journalists and university students;

- 27 sessions for 998 officers, sergeants and soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police and 26 meetings with Afghan military authorities, international mentors and legal advisors' groups working in the ANA's training.

Cooperation with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and Mine Action

The ICRC assists the ARCS technically and financially to build its capacity to deliver various programmes and services to the community. The ICRC:

- supported 371 trainees and 181 trainers in the Vocational Training Program;

- supported 3 training sessions for 68 Community Base First Aid volunteers;

- held 4,516 information sessions for 45,167 persons coming to the ARCS health clinics for treatment and to mosque for praying, through 39 ARCS disseminators trained with the support of ICRC;

- provided more than 34,789 first aid kits to 24,871 ARCS Community Base First Aid volunteers and 141 team leaders retrained and 376 new volunteers trained in Kabul and provinces.

The ICRC supports the ARCS mine risk education program with the aim to prevent injuries and fatalities caused by mines and explosive remnants of war. The mine action teams held:

- 6,074 Mine Risk Education sessions in 2,203 locations for 43,412 adults and 87,254 children.

For further information, please contact the ICRC Information Office:+93 (0)700 279 078/ +93 (0)700 282 719
Email: kabul.kab@icrc.org
Website: www.icrc.org