Afghanistan - the world’s most dangerous place for aid workers

KABUL, 18 April 2013 (IRIN) - Attacks on aid workers in Afghanistan - the world’s most dangerous country for aid workers - are likely to be as high in 2013 as the worst year on record, 2011, according to a new report from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO) published today. full report

Security and aid work in militia-controlled Afghanistan

KUNDUZ, 5 April 2013 (IRIN) - Hamidullah, the headmaster of Haji Mir Alam girls’ school in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz Province, was sitting at his desk in the summer of 2011 when members of a local militia entered the school. full report

Fighting in Pakistan’s Tirah Valley displaces 40,000 people

PESHAWAR, 1 April 2013 (IRIN) - Around 40,000 residents of Pakistan’s Tirah Valley, close to the border with Afghanistan, have fled their homes after renewed fighting in the last few days, according to the Disaster Management Authority in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FDMA). full report

Afghan women navigate a challenging judicial landscape

FAIZABAD, 12 March 2013 (IRIN) - Sadaf Ahmadi*, 18, from the northern Afghan province of Badakshan, has arrived battered and bruised at a women’s refuge centre in Faizabad. It is her fifth such visit. full report

Analysis: Furore over Australian detention of immigrant children

MELBOURNE, 5 March 2013 (IRIN) - Australia is failing in its international obligations to protect the rights of close to 2,000 children now in immigration detention, say rights groups and legal experts. full report

The use and abuse of humanitarian principle

DAKAR, 19 February 2013 (IRIN) - Following the 9/11 attacks and the launch of the Global War on Terror, many humanitarian policy wonks spoke of a new era of heightened aid instrumentalization - that is the use of humanitarian action or rhetoric as a tool to pursue political, security, development, economic, or other non-humanitarian goals, which would muddy humanitarian principles and constrain access to those in need. full report

Analysis: Afghan government promises rethink on IDPs

JALALABAD/DUBAI, 7 February 2013 (IRIN) - A key challenge for the Afghan government and aid agencies is how to help the country’s huge population of internally displaced persons (IDPs) reintegrate in their home communities, or - if that is not possible - settle where they are. full report

Activists rap Australia’s offshore processing of migrants

PERTH, 14 January 2013 (IRIN) - Human rights groups have strongly condemned conditions at Australia’s two offshore processing centres for asylum seekers on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus. full report

Bleak 2013 humanitarian outlook for Afghanistan

DUBAI, 2 January 2013 (IRIN) - More violence and a worsening humanitarian situation are likely in Afghanistan in 2013, say aid agencies. full report