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Korea Donates $2.2 M to Support Drought Affected Afghan Children
The People and Government of the Republic of Korea have donated around USD 2.2 million in support of most vulnerable children and women affected by displacement due to drought in Afghanistan.
The contribution will protect 21,000 families, more than half are children, from the harsh winter season.
“Years of conflict, displacement and growing poverty, compounded by the unprecedented drought this year, have made the situation quite critical, especially for vulnerable families. This contribution could not have been more timely. With the onset of the winter the situation is quite dire,” says Adele Khodr, UNICEF Afghanistan Representative.
“Thanks to the generous financial contribution from the People and Government of Republic of Korea, children and their families can be protected from the winter cold.”
Amidst the harshest conditions of the winter so far, UNICEF in a press release said that it has delivered to an estimated 21,000 conflict and natural disaster-affected families (58% being children) in the worst affected provinces of Herat, Badghis and Ghor, a package of essential non-food items including blankets, family kits including kitchen sets, tarpaulins and children winter clothing kits.
“I am saddened by the fact that around 83,000 families across the country are in need of assistance to fight back cold and hunger during the harsh winter season. Children who are already suffering from malnutrition and weak immune systems are more vulnerable to cold winter weather, and I thank UNICEF for taking the lead in helping those children in a prompt and timely manner,” the Korean Ambassador RHEE Zha-hyoung said.
UNICEF said that the internally displaced Afghan children are in desperate need of assistance. According to UNICEF, many continue to live in makeshift structures, tents and inadequate shelters that will expose them to sub-zero temperatures, heavy snow, and strong winds.
“Malnutrition rates remain high amongst displaced children. Of the over 19,000 children screened in the provincial Herat and Badghis IDP settlements, more than 1,300 were found to be severe acute malnutrition (SAM) cases and were referred for treatment at facilities in both provinces,” it said.
According to UNICEF, over 3 million people including an estimated 1.6 million children are affected by the impact of drought across the country. The number of food insecure population is likely to increase to over 6 million people during the winter season.
With the significant drop in temperatures, there are reports of an increasing number of patients with acute respiratory tract infections, many of whom are children, and winter-related deaths.
UNICEF noted that it will continue to prioritize its winterization response, adding that more efforts need to be done and US$4 million is urgently required to meet immediate lifesaving needs of affected population.
The organization also said that without additional funding, it will not be able to support about a quarter of million drought-affected IDPs over half of whom are children.
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) says over 1,000 Afghan migrants were forcibly returned from Pakistan on Tuesday through Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry stated that based on information provided by the Spin Boldak Kandahar border command, these returnees comprised 191 families, totalling 998 people.
In addition, three migrants released from Pakistani prisons were also returned, according to the statement.
The statement added that after registering the returnees, the refugees were referred to the offices of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Each family received 10,000 afghanis – paid to them by the Islamic Emirate.
In another statement, the ministry said that 2,783 migrants living in Iran voluntarily and forcibly returned to the country during this week.
Hamidullah Akhundzadeh, acting Minister of Transport and Aviation, headed a delegation to Uzbekistan for a ‘Six-Party Corridor’ meeting that included representatives from Afghanistan, Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
On the sidelines of this meeting the Afghanistan delegation discussed trade through the corridor with the other five relevant countries.
According to the ministry of transport and aviation, Akhundzadeh met with the deputy ministers of transport of Russia and Belarus.
He also discussed ways to expand transit between Afghanistan and Russia; and Afghanistan and Belarus, and provide the necessary facilities to achieve this.
The ministry added that the acting minister had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Transport and the Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan on Afghanistan and discussed the expansion of road transport between the two countries.
Representatives of Malaysia’s ministries of foreign affairs, defense and interior and advisors of the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Special Representative of Malaysia for Afghanistan arrived in Kabul this week for meetings with a number of high-ranking officials.
The Islamic Emirate’s foreign minister Mawlavi Amir Khan Muttaqi met with the delegation and thanked Malaysia for assistance it has provided over the past few years, including aid for the victims of the deadly Herat earthquake.
Muttaqi said in the meeting that existing diplomatic, religious, cultural and economic relations between the people and governments of Afghanistan and Malaysia were expanding.
“There are business and investment opportunities in various fields,” Muttaqi told the delegation.
“Afghanistan follows a balanced and economy-oriented foreign policy in the political and economic field. Afghanistan’s relations with the international community are expanding and it has established good relations with neighboring and regional countries,” said Muttaqi.
Afghanistan is keen to expand its relations with the countries of Southeast Asia, he added.
Muttaqi further said: “The Afghan government wants the Malaysian government to provide health and education facilities for the 3,000 Afghans currently living in Malaysia.”
At the same time, members of the Malaysian delegation said that the Malaysian government wants to expand relations with Afghanistan in various fields.
The delegation positively evaluated the political situation in Afghanistan and said they hoped a Malaysian trade delegation would visit Afghanistan in the near future.
One delegate, Dato Shazlina said: “Malaysia is determined to organize short-term training programs for Afghan diplomats, training programs in the field of information technology, accounting and development for Afghan civil service employees and in this regard cooperate with Afghanistan in organizing professional programs.”
The political deputy prime minister, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, also met with the delegation and said the Islamic Emirate has achieved much in the economic and political sectors, and that the world, including the region, has no need to be concerned about Afghanistan.
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