Doha hosts discussion on Afghanistan's humanitarian concerns

March 02 2022 

Doha hosts discussion on Afghanistan's humanitarian concerns

QNA/Doha

Doha hosted a round-table discussion on current and future humanitarian concerns in Afghanistan, organised in co-operation between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Qatar Red Crescent Society and its Afghan counterpart, with the participation of special advisors and ambassadors of several countries.

The sessions intended to support the humanitarian diplomacy efforts focused on by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, as an integral part of the efforts directed at helping and protecting the population at risk, at a time when the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan threatens the lives of millions of families, which created an urgent desire to discuss and determine the basic needs there.

The discussion were held in the presence of HE Secretary-General of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) Ambassador Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi, Assistant Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Xavier Castellanos, and Acting President of the Afghan Red Crescent Maulvi Matiul Haq Khalis.


The Afghan Red Crescent expressed its views and assessments of the urgent needs of the Afghan population in light of the current and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in their country, and also reviewed the long-term solutions required to alleviate this crisis. The sessions witnessed great interest and interaction from the participants, who stressed the importance of supporting humanitarian efforts in light of the complex situation in Afghanistan, and the scale of the country's great needs in light of the exacerbation of natural hazards, droughts and floods, severe food shortages, and conflict for successive decades, as well as the crisis of Covid-19, making nearly half of the population in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The meeting stressed the need to take urgent measures to overcome the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and limit its deterioration in light of food insecurity. It also stressed the need to lift restrictions and facilitate financial transfers to humanitarian organisations, and focus on supporting the capacities of the local community and local institutions such as the Afghan Red Crescent.

The three parties (the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Qatar Red Crescent and its Afghan counterpart) discussed, in a meeting held on the sidelines of the round table, ways to develop co-operation between them and support the efforts of the Afghan Red Crescent, which has a strategic partnership with its Qatari counterpart since 2014. The partnership between the two sides result in dozens of humanitarian projects in the areas of emergency relief, shelter, water and sanitation, health, livelihood, and food security, in addition to winter aid, to meet the needs of the population in various Afghan provinces and regions.

In a related context, Qatar Red Crescent Society recently sent 10 relief shipments weighing 150 tonnes of humanitarian aid, which were distributed to the most vulnerable Afghan groups in co-operation with his Afghan counterpart. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives from the Canadian, German, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Dutch, Spanish, Swiss, British and American embassies in Doha participated in the sessions and round-table discussions. (QNA)