Drought forces 150,000 more Afghans to flee homes: UN

Extreme drought in parts of Afghanistan has forced 150,000 more people to flee homes in a month, the UN announced on Tuesday.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated on Tuesday most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in informal sites in Herat and Qala-e-Naw cities in the western region of the country.

In total, OCHA announced it has delivered food, cash or livelihood assistance to over 300,000 IDPs in Badghis, Ghor, Herat, Jawzjan, Faryab and Kandahar provinces that are hit by the drought.

However, serious protection concerns have been raised with a spike in early marriages and child labor at these informal sites occupied by the IDPs.

This came as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and OCHA’s Under Secretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock are set to visit Afghanistan on Wednesday to monitor the situation.

As per the UN estimates, 225 districts in 20 provinces are affected by the drought.