Contraction of Humanitarian Corridors for NGOs in Pakistan

These days in Pakistan the humanitarian organizations and their workers are facing access problems to different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

Increased checks and restrictions on project NOC and new imposition of travel NOC for the local staffs have worsened the situation. Project NOC normally takes 35 days process by government while Travel NOC (a new addition) which was first supposed to take 6-8 weeks processing time but on the high voices from humanitarian community, its processing time is decreased to 5 working days although which is not practicable yet by the authorities.

Volatile security situation and to practice high security protocols then ever is also a significant barrier towards accessing project sites and the affected people. Increased number of incidents happening to humanitarian workers in terms of target killings and abduction is also among the barriers.   

Complex nature of the situation where military operation is ongoing in some areas while some areas are de-notified for return and time to time occurrence of natural disasters have multiplied the miseries of affected people and issues for humanitarian workers in the whole country.   

In such circumstances the humanitarian workers are not able to access the affected people timely while the affected people as well are not able to access humanitarian aid efficiently. However, JEN will keep working to support those people, seeking the way to improve current situation.