ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Speakers at a conference here on Thursday stressed the need for a strategic framework for internally-displaced persons (IDPs), affected by conflict, earthquake and flood, whose number has risen to a drastic figure of eight million out of which four million are children.

They were speaking at a national conference organised by Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) on the impact of displacement on children here on Thursday.They regretted that due to lack of political will and commitment no concrete measures for rehabilitation of IDPs were taken by the government among which half were children who were vulnerable to every form of exploitation.

Life in the camps for these already disturbed children is not enviable. They suffer from various health issues such as communicable diseases, malnourishment, lack of education and most importantly lack of security and safety, they added.

Sparc Executive Director Qindeel Shujaat said the issue of impact of displacement on children had been neglected. Conflict in the NWFP, earthquake in Balochistan and flood in Sindh is not new. Children have unique needs that require special attention, strategies and mechanisms. Their issues of schooling, protection and repatriation should be taken up by the government, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, S. M. Zafar from the Human Rights Affairs and Parliamentary Activism said since the government was unable to judge the intensity of this problem the process of rehabilitation had yet not taken a proper shape. However, on the other hand the number of IDPs is constantly increasing and it is happening when economic crisis has hit the nation but what is important is the motivation to work for the betterment of people, he added.

Irfan Raza of Sparc informed the participants of the conference about the working of the NGO, which, he said, had been taking up new and emerging issues relating to children such as militancy and children, corporal punishment and now the impact of displacement on children in various areas of the country due to conflict and natural catastrophes.

In his presentation on child protection issues during displacement, Rafiq Khan of Sparc disclosed that “every week at least 500 children are separated from their families and there is no strategy to reunify these young ones with their families”.

Another major setback is the extremely limited role of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in alleviating the problems faced by people and particularly by children, he added.

Sharing a report, he said about 13 children were kidnapped from Swat Valley during the last four weeks. Almost 69 per cent children in four IDP camps (Kacha Gully, Sheikh Yaseen, Benazir Complex and Palosa) suffer from malnourishment of various types. And this is a story of only four camps, he added.

Underscoring the need for legislation for displaced people with particular reference to children, Sparc’s Iqbal Detho said: “Disregard for the minimum rights of IDPs is another dimension of their plight.”

The responsibility for the protection of IDPs rests first and foremost on local and national authorities. It is also equally incumbent upon international community to contribute to enhance the protection of IDPs in conflict and crisis situations, he said.

Dr Mohammad Danish from Seher Balochistan said according to the UN estimates 84,000 people were displaced in conflict in 2006 in Dera Bugti and Kohlu. Since the roads were closed thousands of people died of starvation and hunger. People were ignored and yet there is no authority which has taken responsibility for the welfare of the displaced people. In the recent earthquake of October 29 more than 50 per cent are children from among the 84,000 victims, he said.

The UN adviser, Anwarul Haq, in his speech reflected on the working of Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and said there were 25-30 million IDPs around the world. It puts great emphasis on the assessment of the needs of the displaced people and they also make arrangement for the resources required to provide relief to the victims.

Speaking on the occasion, MNA Khaleda Mansoor said the biggest problems for IDPs were water and sanitation especially for women and children. A national assembly committee was formed that gave money for the IDPs and the same was done in Balochistan. One can see small children who need our help and the committee will now provide money and warm clothes to the victims, she added.

Riffat Sardar of Unicef said the IDPs were people who were forced to move from their homes within the country. Almost 300,000 children are affected by humanitarian crisis and disasters. A majority of the displaced are women and children.

Assistant Inspector Punjab Police Ahsan Sadiq, in his address, said internal displacement had to be seen in the light of poverty as well.

“We have seen that when displacement of people happens in poor countries the problems are magnified mainly because of the poor governance, corruption and weak employment opportunities,” he said. Senator Kulsoom Parveen said the issue of children was important and it was necessary to work on it. Sharing common practices, she said there were incidents where the already victimised children, especially girls, were sold after the October 2005 earthquake. She said they were facing all these problems because they had moved away from religion and good practices.

Anees Jillani, board member of Sparc, shared with the audience the details of the number of IDPs in different parts of Pakistan and said the government had not given any figures of the IDPs. He added that the IDPs in Swat were highest in number in Asia and the estimates were that almost 400,000 to 900,000 people had moved from their homes.

At the end of the conference the best Sparc child rights committees were awarded for their work during the year for the well-being of children in their respective districts.