Born on the move: an Afghan girl's trip to safety in Europe

News Stories, 14 October 2015

© UNHCR/A. Zavallis
A young girl from Afghanistan drawing during a class of art activities at the Elaionas temporary accommodation site.

ATHENS, Greece, Oct 14, (UNHCR) – Surrounded by children's toys and loving smiles, five-week-old Mahdia lies comfortably on a white embroidered cloth with a lace trim. However, her peaceful, satisfied eyes are in sharp contrast to the reality of her harsh, new environment.

Her bed is the cement floor of a shelter for newly arrived refugees and migrants. Two rucksacks with necessities are all her family's possessions. Her food and clothes are donated by warm-hearted volunteers.

Mahdia is a baby born on the move, on a long – sometimes dangerous – search for safety, long before she can even walk. She is looking for a chance to live before she can even speak.

Escaping from renewed fighting in the Afghan city of Kunduz, Mahdia's family forms part of the large wave of refugees and migrants that has reached Greece since the beginning of the year.

Forced to flee their homeland by insecurity, an uncertain future and a lack of educational and employment opportunities, tens of thousands of Afghans are on the move.

© UNHCR/A. Kitidi
Fatima with five-week-old Mahdia in the Athens centre for newly arrived refugees and migrants.

Some 440,000 people have arrived on Greek shores this year, with about 18 per cent coming from Afghanistan. One in five of all the new arrivals are under the age of 18.

At the age of 19, Mahdia's mother, Fatima, still holds tight to childhood dreams. Married to a driver from her neighbourhood in Kunduz, she hopes someday to become a doctor. "I want to study, to improve," Fatima said gazing into the distance. But it will not be easy for such hopes to become a reality.

Recent fighting in Kunduz drove Fatima and her family from home. Rockets kept her up at night, scaring her much more than the prospect of the long journey to Europe. When she left Afghanistan she was nine months pregnant.

Mahdia was then born in an Istanbul hospital and was 18 days old when the family boarded a dinghy bound for the Greek island of Lesvos.

UNHCR is helping refugees and migrants, like Fatima and her family, once they arrive to Greece. The UN refugee agency is providing information in registration centres about the asylum procedures in Greece, their rights and responsibilities.

UNHCR agency also distributes basic relief items, like sleeping bags and hygiene kits, while it identifies people with specific needs and refers them to the appropriate channels for help.

While Fatima waits for her husband, her thoughts and heart remain in her homeland.

"I want Mahdia to return someday," she said.

By Aikaterini Kitidi, Athens, Greece

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Conflict-Induced Internal Displacement - Afghanistan

Monthly update: March 2014

Afghanistan: Rebuilding a War-Torn Country

The cycle of life has started again in Afghanistan as returnees put their shoulders to the wheel to rebuild their war-torn country.

Return is only the first step on Afghanistan's long road to recovery. UNHCR is helping returnees settle back home with repatriation packages, shelter kits, mine-awareness training and vaccination against diseases. Slowly but surely, Afghans across the land are reuniting with loved ones, reconstructing homes, going back to school and resuming work. A new phase in their lives has begun.

Watch the process of return, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction unfold in Afghanistan through this gallery.

Afghanistan: Rebuilding a War-Torn Country

Afghanistan: The Reality of Return

The UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme join forces to improve the lives of Afghan returnees in the east of the country

After more than two decades of war, Afghanistan faces enormous recovery needs. The rugged, landlocked nation remains one of the poorest in the world, with more than half its 25 million citizens living below the poverty line. Furthermore, the rise in global food prices has affected more than 2.5 million Afghans, who can no longer afford to buy staples such as wheat flour.

Since 2002, more than 5 million Afghans have gone back home, with a large proportion returning to the eastern provinces. The returnees face huge challenges, such as insecurity, food shortages, insufficient shelter, unemployment and a lack of access to basic services.

UNHCR and WFP are working in partnership to help returnees in Afghanistan to rebuild their lives, particularly in the east. Programmes such as skills training, micro hydroelectricity projects and food distribution have helped Afghans get back on their feet and work towards creating sustainable livelihoods.

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Afghanistan: The Reality of Return

Afghanistan: An Uncertain Future

For over a quarter of a century, Afghanistan has been devastated by conflict and civil strife, with some 8 million people uprooted internally and in neighbouring countries. The overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 resulted in one of the largest and most successful return operations in history.

Seven years on, more than 5 million Afghan refugees have returned - increasing Afghanistan's population by an estimated 20 percent.The large majority have gone back to their areas of origin. However, some recent returnees are facing more difficulties as the country's absorption capacity reaches its limits in some areas. Last year, some Afghans returned before they were ready or able to successfully reintegrate due to the closure of refugee villages as well as the deteriorating conditions in Pakistan. In consequence, 30,000 Afghan refugees returned to further displacement in their homeland, unable to return to their villages due to conflict, lack of land, shelter materials, basic services and job opportunities. These challenges have been compounded elsewhere across the country by food insecurity and severe drought.

UNHCR and the Afghan Foreign Ministry highlighted the requirements for sustainable refugee return and reintegration at an international conference in Kabul in November 2008. The donor community welcomed the inclusion of refugee reintegration within the government's five-year national development strategy and the emphasis on land, shelter, water, sanitation, education, health care and livelihoods. It is anticipated that repatriation and reintegration will become more challenging in future.

Afghanistan: An Uncertain Future

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