The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has called on the Afghan government, the Taliban and the international community to support and strengthen efforts to bring about peace as the escalating violence has resulted in a spike in Internally Displaced People (IDPs).

In a report issued Wednesday by the AIHRC it said: “We call on the Afghan government, the Taliban, and the international community to work hard to support and strengthen the justice-oriented peace process, establish a ceasefire, and put an end to war and violence, as major causes of internal displacement in the country.”

The organization also urged relevant departments and other stakeholders to take immediate action to provide temporary housing for IDPs and to address their basic needs, particularly access to food, drinking water, and health services.

“We urge national and international organizations working in this field to work on developing programs and establishing or strengthening the structures required for IDPs’ access to housing, education, health, social participation, and psychosocial support,” the organization said.

This comes after the AIHRC conducted a field study in 30 provinces on the plight of IDPs.

According to the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management statistics, almost five million people have been displaced due to insecurity and violence by anti-government armed groups in the past two years.

The AIHRC meanwhile said recent data indicates 62,480 families have been displaced in the last six months, out of which, 32,284 families from 25 different provinces have been displaced due to escalation of war and violence in just one month - between June 7th – July 8th.

A comparison of 2015 statistics by the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (1.2 million) and this year’s statistics by the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management shows that the number of IDPs has increased by 74.8 percent

AIHRC investigations found that 158,392 families from 26 provinces have been displaced due to war and insecurity in the first three months of this solar year (March 20, 2021 to June 21, 2021).

Nangarhar, with 22,790 displaced families, is at the top of the list, while Samangan, with 100 displaced people, is at the bottom.

The AIHRC reported that out of all 2,903 respondents in its field study, 281 of them (9.7%) stated that they have been displaced for over five years; 118 respondents (4.1%) said they have been displaced for less than five years; 238 respondents (8.2%) less than four years; 353 respondents (12.2%) less than three years; 497 respondents (17.1%) less than two years; 449 respondents (15.5%) less than one year; and, 949 respondents (32.7%) less than six months.

The study also found that 2,475 respondents (85.3 %) said that they had suffered some type of harm to their permanent residence before being displaced.

Among the people who suffered some form of harm prior to being displaced, 543 (21.9%) lost family members; 316 (12.8%) or their family members have been injured; 849 (34.3%) lost their homes; 344 (13.9%) lost their crops; 247 (11.1%) lost their job; 63 (2.5%) or their children have been deprived of education; and, 86 (3.5%) have not responded this question.

Out of all 2,475 people who said that they had been harmed before being displaced, 2,062 of them (83.3%) said that anti-government armed groups harmed them; 233 of them (9.4%) said that pro-government forces had harmed them; and the remaining 180 of them have said that they have been harmed by natural disasters in their permanent residence.

The study also found that access to stable jobs, shelter, health services and education were also a problem for the IDPs.