The Asia Displacement Solutions Platform engages in evidence-based advocacy initiatives to achieve improved outcomes for communities affected by displacement across the Myanmar and Afghanistan displacement axes. Our work draws from our members’ presence in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand, and supports regional level advocacy and knowledge genneration.
Regional displacement snapshot: Afghanistan
Decades of political, social, economic and climatic shocks have created ongoing waves of internal and cross-border displacement in Afghanistan, the overwhelming responsibility for which has been shouldered by neighbouring Islamic Republics of Iran and Pakistan. By the end of 2021, as many as 11 million Afghans were reportedly displaced from their homes, including 3.5 million within Afghanistan, 2.6 asylum seekers and refugees, and an estimated five million others with varied documented or undocumented legal status. Since the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021, the prevailing drivers of Afghan displacement are changing but the scale of displacement holds: Afghans continue to be pushed from their homes by factors of economic collapse, the erosion of social safety nets, serious protection concerns, the denial of access to basic services, and recurrent climatic disasters, with extremely limited prospects for sustainable, predictable long-term solutions.
Regional displacement snapshot: Myanmar
By mid-year 2020, UNHCR reported a total of 1.9 million persons of concern from Myanmar in the Asia-Pacific region, constituting the world’s fourth largest refugee group by country of origin, and likely a dramatic underestimate given persistent barriers to the registration and accurate reporting of numbers across the region. The overwhelming majority of those displaced from Myanmar are from the Rohingya ethnic minority, deprived of citizenship, legal identity and associated protections within Myanmar, and in turn exposed to acute protection risks in neighbouring countries. In addition to 950,000 Rohingya living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, UNHCR has registered over 100,000 Rohingya in Malaysia, and a total of just under 20,000 officially registered across India, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal and other countries. UNHCR has registered a further 166,500 non-Rohingya Myanmar refugees across Malaysia, Thailand and India, likely among significant numbers in other countries about whom no official data is available. While all people displaced from Myanmar face significant protection risks, the Rohingya experience the most immediate and pronounced concerns, rooted in statelessness that excludes Rohingya populations from relevant protection frameworks and reinforces seemingly intractable barriers to solutions.
