Adequate safety for IDPs must be put in place: UN Rapporteur

Humanitarian aid workers must be protected and should not become the object of an attack, says UN official.

UNITED NATIONS: Adequate safety arrangements must urgently be put in place to protect the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and humanitarian agencies, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights of IDPs stressed.

In a press statement, the Special Rapporteur Chaloka Beyani underscored that the death of innocent displaced persons was unacceptable.

Indiscriminate attacks are inhuman and banned in international humanitarian law, Beyani declared as he offered his sincere condolences to the victims' families. The humanitarian nature of the IDP camp must be maintained, and adequate safety arrangements must urgently be put in place to protect the displaced and allow a safe work environment for humanitarian agencies, he added.

According to reports provided by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 10 civilians and one aid worker were killed and many more injured when a car bomb exploded at the Jalozai camp on March 21. The camp lies in a particularly volatile corner of the country not far from the Afghanistan border.

"Such attacks against IDP camps are prohibited under all circumstances", the UN expert continued. Humanitarian aid workers must be protected and should not become the object of an attack.

Beyani called for the insecure working environment of the camp to be immediately addressed so as not to hinder aid workers efforts to protect and provide assistance to the IDPs in Nowshera district, while urging local authorities to strengthen safety measures and improve security arrangements around the Jalozai camp in order to ensure the safety of the IDPs.