“We all at the United Nations suffering from a strengthening of the ban on women working with us … We simply cannot work without a woman”, ” said Arafat Jamal, UN refugee agency (Hcr) Representative of Afghanistan, one day after agencies warned that the measures of de facto authorities had an impact on vital aid for hundreds of thousands of people.
Last Sunday, de facto The Afghan security forces have prevented national staff and UN entrepreneurs to enter the compounds of the world organization in Kabul, the United Nations mission in the country, UNAMA, said on Thursday in a statement.
Closed centers
And in light of the restrictions on Tuesday, UNHCR temporarily closed its cash and support centers for vulnerable Afghans, at the border and in areas where so many people have returned from Iran, Pakistan and elsewhere since the beginning of the year.
The registration process is to provide biometric data, as well as screening and interviews – work that would be “entirely impossible without Afghan workers”, said the UNHCR manager, noting that more than one in two returnees are women.
“” It was an operational decision,»M. Jamal continued. “” It is not a decision taken to punish who. “”
Since the start of the year, some 2.6 million Afghans have returned from neighboring countries – “a lot by choice,” said UNHCR.
Mr. Jamal noted that the pace of yields continues to rise, with nearly 100,000 people who crossed Pakistan in the first week of September only ” stretch our capacities and capacities of this country at the limit».
Reverberant replicas
Echoing these concerns, the United Nations Fund for Children (Unicef) warned that Afghanistan is still in shock from the 6.0 magnitude earthquake which hit the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar on August 31, followed by several serious aftershocks.
At least 1,172 children died, more than half of the total number of deaths, said a representative of Unicef country in Afghanistan, Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale.
Briefing journalists in Geneva via Videolink, Dr. Oyewale described by meeting the young victims of the Machkandol disaster in Nangahar, three girls and a young boy saved in emergency.
“For girls, it was even more thinking; They were lost; They lost their family, their homes were destroyed, “he said. “Family cattle have died. And for these young girls and this young boy, the future is completely dark. ”
The provinces affected by the earthquake are mountainous and extremely distant, continued the head of UNICEF.
Stuck earth roads
“It is filled with steep lands, difficult navigation … It took us about three and a half hours by car, of which 40 minutes on the paved road and the rest was through restless earth roads, many laps with vehicles coming in the opposite direction and especially rocks that fall on the road.”
Humanitarian workers warn that the earthquake has aggravated existing acute problems of Afghanistan.
In total, the crisis made more than 2,164 lives, at least 3,428 people were injured and at least 6,700 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged.
“Behind these figures are children who stand alone in the rubble and families torn in the blink of an eye … UNICEF literally has an additional effort and does everything you need to achieve these children and families with the support they need,” insisted Dr. Oyewale.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
