Difficult security impede aid to Afghans

[questionmark]

Difficult security conditions impede much-needed aid delivery to Afghans – UN

4 September 2007 – Challenging security conditions are impeding relief workers’ efforts to assess and meet humanitarian needs in remote areas in Afghanistan’s south, south-east and east, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The UN mission in the Asian nation, known as UNAMA, is facing difficulties in reaching areas to verify casualties or carry out humanitarian activities, with all 53 districts in the south – except the urban areas of four of the five provincial capitals – being virtually unreachable.

OCHA also noted that both sides to the conflict are contributing to the problem. In addition, it said that continuing military operations against anti-Government groups could lead to more attacks on “softer” targets, such as the UN, and national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and there has already been a surge in kidnappings of aid workers.

Meanwhile, at a UN-backed workshop in the capital Kabul, a three-year plan to promote girls’ education was developed.

“To improve the situation of girls’ education in Afghanistan, it is imperative that the country develops focused interventions and addresses the barriers that prevent girls from attending schools,” said Catherine Mbengue, Representative in Afghanistan for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

More than 50 representatives from Government ministries, UN agencies, NGOs and research organizations attended the workshop, which was set up by UNICEF and the Education Ministry in collaboration with the Girls’ Education Initiative Working Group.

The education plan tries to accelerate girls’ enrolment by promoting girl-friendly schools, providing nutrition services, training female teachers and teaching girls currently not attending school.

During the time of the Taliban, girls were not allowed to officially register in schools, and Government figures show that no girls were enrolled in 2001 in Afghanistan, which is now rebuilding after three decades of conflict.

Full story, Source: UN News Centre