Highlights and Statistics
- Overall count of new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants presently in Serbia stood at 7,000, with over 5,800 (i.e. 83%) accommodated in 16 governmental facilities (see chart), and the remainder sleeping rough in Belgrade City centre or at the border with Hungary.

“Thousands of civilians have been forced to suddenly flee their homes due to fighting in Faryab Province, and they urgently need humanitarian assistance in this bitter winter,” said Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Country Director in Afghanistan, Kate O'Rourke.

Up to 1,800 families are estimated to have been displaced in the past 72 hours alone, as armed opposition forces advanced further through Faryab.

Highlights

• A farmer in a rural community is showing the way by adopting modern horticultural technologies and practices, which is resulting in higher crop yields and increased income.

• The farmer’s success is encouraging fellow villagers to participate in the National Horticulture and Livestock Project, which will provide technical support and needed production inputs and technologies.

Immigration Detention And Community Statistics Summary

At 30 November 2016, there were 1414 people in immigration detention facilities, including 1158 in immigration detention on the mainland and 256 in immigration detention on Christmas Island.

A further 560 people were living in the community after being approved for a residence determination and 26,186 were living in the community after grant of a Bridging Visa E.

KEY MESSAGES

• Access to the districts of Faryab province has been severely constrained for the past few months, mainly due to insecurity and has further deteriorated following heavy snowfall, mainly in Kohistan district. As a result, the majority of people in Kohistan, Dawlat Abad, Garziwan and Pashtun Kot districts are currently unable to go to work, and there is limited food supplied by the traders to the markets in these districts.

In the humanitarian sector children are often simply seen as the recipients of assistance designed by others, rather than as agents of change who can help shape how their needs are responded to. In my experience it is quite rare, especially in a conflict affected country, that aid organisations ask children directly what their problems are and what change they want to see – let alone deliver it in a way which involves children.

Afghan women and girls have made significant gains with the support of USAID, working in partnership with the Afghan government and other international donors:

• About 3.5 million girls are enrolled in school according to the Afghan Ministry of Education

• USAID supported the increase of women in the health workforce. In 2002, only 25 percent of health facilities had a female health worker. As of 2015, 85 percent of health facilities have at least one female health worker (doctor, nurse or midwife)

1. IN 2016, HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLANS (HRPs) in the MENA region requested US$7 billion and have received $4 billion. In total, MENA HRPs are 56 per cent funded. Three new FLASH APPEALS address specific situations: in Iraq where the humanitarian impact of the Mosul operation requires $284 million; in Afghanistan where $152 million is needed to assist returnees from Pakistan; and in Libya where $10 million is needed for Sirt.

Highlights

• Since January 2016, more than 614,225 undocumented returnees (244,125) and registered refugees (370,102) have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan. Of these, 93% (571,747) have returned since July.1

• In the last two weeks, no registered refugees have returned as the winter pause in UNHCR’s repatriation program takes full effect. Undocumented returns have also slowed, with 2,032 returning in the past week.

2 janvier 2017

Si 2016 nous a appris à nous attendre à l’inattendu, les collaborateurs d’IRIN sur le terrain nous ont donné une bonne idée de ce que la nouvelle année nous réserve. Nous ne pouvons pas garantir que tous les médias couvriront ces sujets, mais en voici dix auxquels nous serons attentifs :

En lire plus sur IRIN

PUL-E KHUMRI - Participants at a UN-backed event in the northern province of Baghlan universally affirmed their commitment to empowering Afghan women and signed a memorandum to work toward implementing the government’s national action plan on women.

The event, supported by the regional office of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), was organized with Baghlan’s Department of Women’s Affairs to create a forum where provincial leaders could discuss key issues surrounding the importance of women working in government institutions.

ZULFIQAR ALI

PESHAWAR: The government has launched a deweaopnisation campaign in Kurram Agency, asking the local tribal people to hand over weapons to the administration.

However, elders in Parachinar say that recent history of violence against the tribes and fragile security situation in Afghanistan make this move inopportune at this moment.

Weekly Report

Key Figures
Mediterranean
361,788
arrivals by sea in 2016*
5,022
dead/missing in 2016*

Trends of Sea Arrivals

• As of 30 December 2016, the inter-agency coordinated appeals and refugee response plans within the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) require US$22.1 billion -- an increase of 10 per cent since it was first launched twelve months ago -- to meet the needs of 96.2 million humanitarian crisis-affected people in 40 countries. By the end of 2016, $12.6 billion were raised towards the coordinated appeals -- more than ever before. Despite immense donor generosity, it is only 57 percent of the requirements committed, leaving a short fall of $9.5 billion.

Highlights

• 1,671 undocumented Afghans spontaneously returned or were deported from Pakistan between 25-31 December 2016, a 30% decrease from the previous week.

• 7,732 undocumented Afghans spontaneously returned or were deported from Iran between 25-31 December 2016, an 11% decrease from the previous week.

• In total, 248,189 undocumented Afghans spontaneously returned or were deported from Pakistan and 443,968 spontaneously returned or were deported from Iran in 2016.

Editorial Note

Annual Threat Assessment 2017

By Obaid Ali

Key Facts

2,300 Estimated number of UAC currently in Greece
based on referrals to EKKA (as of 28 December)

1,256 Total number of places available in UAC shelters
(filled, pending assigned cases as of 28 Dec., including 114 vacant places in the process to be filled)

1,443 Total number of UAC on waiting list for shelter
(as of 28 December) including:
•309 in closed reception facilities
•15 in protective custody

While 2016 taught us to expect the unexpected, IRIN’s eyes and ears on the ground have given us an idea of what to look out for in the new year. We can’t promise everyone else will be covering these stories, but here are ten we’ll be watching:

Read the full article on IRIN

The world reached a level of conflict deaths in 2014–2015 that is unparalleled in the post-Cold War period. The ability of the international community to contain some of the conflicts that have the greatest regional impacts determines whether we will see a long-term trend of intensified conflict, or a return to lower levels of violence.

Brief Points

• There has been a slight decline in total battle deaths from 2014 to 2015.