URGENT NEED TO IMPROVE IDP SERVICES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 000078

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PK PREF PREL PTER
SUBJECT: URGENT NEED TO IMPROVE IDP SERVICES


1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 10.


2. (U) Summary. President Asif Zardari and Chief of Army
Staff General Kayani raised with Ambassador the urgent need
to provide the internally displaced people (IDPs) in the
Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) with adequate food and shelter. While
efforts to assist this population are ongoing, they have been
stymied by a noticeable lack of coordination between the UN
organizations within Pakistan and, then, with their
headquarters in Geneva and inadequate food distribution
mechanisms through the UN's World Food Program (WFP) to
assist the over 200,000 displaced in these areas. End Summary.


CURRENT SITUATION OF IDP CAMPS
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3. (SBU) As of January 5, the official figure of IDPs living
in the eleven camps within the NWFP was 8,008 families, or
approximately 50,500 individuals. The NWFP Department of
Social Welfare (DSW) and the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) have registered approximately 19,127
families and 116,949 individuals. According to UNHCR,
approximately another 100,000 will be registered in the
southern NWFP districts once registration commences there.
Further, the number of IDPs in cities outside the NWFP, such
as Rawalpindi and Karachi, are unknown but appear to be over
100,000.


4. (SBU) From the registration exercise, UNHCR and DSW have
determined that approximately 75 percent of the IDP
population is currently living in rented accommodations
instead of with host families, as was originally assumed. As
the conflict and military operations have been ongoing for
over five months, the financial resources of the IDPs are
dwindling, as is the absorptive capacity of host communities.
As a result, an increasing number of IDPs are living outside
the various IDP camps, wanting to move into the camps, with
approximately 3,000 families currently on a wait list for
camp entry.


5. (SBU) Space in and around the camps is severely limited,
and there is not enough space to meet the demand from those
living outside the camps. In response, the DSW is trying to
improve the delivery of services and assistance. UNHCR, WFP,
and other organizations are concentrating on the affected
families. UNHCR is accelerating site development at the
camps, notably at the Jalozai camp, creating approximately
200 new available living spaces per day, and the WFP
continues to provide food rations to families while trying to
keep up with the growing demand. Additionally, partners
through USAID have distributed non-food item (NFI) kits to
the 2,234 registered IDPs in Nowshera and Swabi Districts,
and are completing NFI distributions to the IDP populations
in Mardan, Lower Dir, Charsadda, Nowshera, and Peshawar
Districts, along with rent subsidies in Lower Dir.


DISCONNECT BETWEEN UN MISSION AND NEEDS OF PAKISTAN
--------------


6. (SBU) According to many non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and UN offices, the UN system is stymied by several
factors, including the recent increase in security
restrictions. Rather than having both a Resident Coordinator
(RC) and Humanitarian Coordinator (HC),the RC has been given
both roles in Pakistan. This has led to a disjointed
response, and key humanitarian issues remain unaddressed,
including provisions of cooking and heating facilities.


7. (SBU) A lack of coordination between the UN offices within
Pakistan and then with their respective headquarters in
Geneva is adding to the difficulty of fully assisting the
IDPs. The UNHCR office in Islamabad contacted Embassy
officials, alerting them to the "strong possibility" that due
to a lack of funds, UNHCR would be forced to close its
operations in the FATA and NWFP on January 9. The reason for
the sudden lack of money, as explained, was because of a

ISLAMABAD 00000078 002 OF 002


funding appeal that was floundering in Geneva. However, the
Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration reported that
UNHCR Pakistan had received $13.6 million against the $15
million from its Supplemental Budget, of which $900,000 was
for overhead.


8. (SBU) Food distributions by the UN World Food Program
(WFP) in the camps have been marred by chaos and riots.
Criticisms of the WFP food distribution include the
following: (1) a limited range of food rations (which only
include wheat, pulses, and oil); (2) the rations are
considered by most to be too small and do not take the size
of the receiving family into account at distribution; and (3)
the food distribution is inconsistent and unreliable because
of breaks in the food pipeline (the entire ration does not
arrive at the same time).


9. (SBU) Similar problems have emerged as WFP expanded to
provide food to the IDPs outside the camps. The Provincial
Relief Commissioner has levied these complaints publicly at
the WFP at the last two Provincial Coordination meetings, and
in response, the WFP has said that it has revised its
distribution strategy, including the establishment of
Extended Delivery Points that will operate seven days a week.
These efforts have done nothing to alleviate these issues,
however.


ACTION REQUEST
--------------


10. (U) Action: Post requests that the Department work with
the U.S. Missions in Geneva and New York to improve
coordination within the UN organizations internally and
externally, to improve UN WFP food distribution, and to press
for issuance of any appeals to sustain funding for IDPs in
Pakistan.
PATTERSON