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CNN Live At Daybreak

Lack of Registration Causes Problems for Afghan Refugees

Aired November 02, 2001 - 05:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: As thousands of Afghans flee the bombing campaign, they're not getting exactly a warm welcome at the borders of neighboring countries. A major problem is that many of them are unregistered, which means they can't get help from the U.N.

CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports from a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another malnourished baby; 100 a day come through this makeshift hospital in a makeshift refugee camp.

This woman, a widow, says her four children are hungry and sick. They left Kabul when the airstrikes started.

There may be no bombs here in Jalozai, but comfortable, it is not. The flimsy tents will not keep out the winter cold or the disease.

This woman's baby is unconscious. A World Food Program officer gives her a lift to a nearby hospital. The child was diagnosed as dehydrated from diarrhea.

ASADULLAH MENAPAL, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: The nutritional states of the camp is not good for -- I mean, there is food distribution, but not happening regularly, and you know, not sufficient enough for the whole population.

MACKINNON: This food distribution point is administered by the World Food Program. Each recipient must show proper documentation, proof that they really are a refugee living in Jalozai.

(on camera): In order to get their food ration, each refugee needs a registration card, like this. But since the government closed the border, very few refugees have been registered, because officially, they're not supposed to exist.

(voice-over): These people outside the local office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees are just a fraction of the more than 2,000 Afghans arriving in the northwest Frontier Province every day. None of them officially exist, because they entered Pakistan illegally over a closed border. CORINNE PERHUIS, UNHCR: Our first step is to have them recognized and propose to the most vulnerable people on a voluntary basis to be relocated in the new sites. We hope that the Pakistan authorities will understand that is the only way to assist them and to recognize that really they are in a great need.

MACKINNON: But for people like these undocumented, illegal migrants, who say they just arrived after a four-day trip from Kabul, simply convincing authorities that they really are who they claim to be is not easy.

Police search their bags, insisting they must have come from another nearby camp in order to get double rations of food.

Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Jalozai refugee camp, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Now, it is important to remember that Afghan refugees had been pouring over the borders long before the U.S. bombing campaign started. For example, international aid agencies say a million-and-a-half of them have crossed into Iran in the past year, even though the bombing didn't start until October.

For a look at which nations are dealing with refugees, just click onto CNN.com. We have a whole story for you there.

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