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Finland ger 3 miljoner euro till Afghanistan

On 22 November 2019, a group of boys drink tea inside Shaheed Abdul Ahad Khan Karzai Orphanage in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The orphanage supports more than 180 children from 6 to 18 years old. Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries for a child. Armed conflict kills or maims at least nine children every day. Between 2009 and 2018, 15,000 civilians have been injured, almost 6,500 of them children. Access to humanitarian aid is being hampered by the targeting of schools and health centres. Besides conflict, Afghanistan struggles with natural disasters. Drought and flooding affected 250,000 people in 2019. More than half the population lives below the poverty level, leaving children more vulnerable to violence, abuse, neglect, recruitment by armed groups, unsafe migration and various forms of exploitation, including child marriage and child labour. There is growing evidence that the impact on children is worsening. The first nine months of 2019 showed an 11 per cent increase in the number of child casualties over the same period in 2018. In addition, children who witness or experience violence at close hand are more vulnerable and require psychosocial support to overcome the trauma they have witnessed. The outlook is not completely bleak. Progress has been made in strengthening the legal environment for children. The Child Rights Protection Law, incorporating provisions of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, was passed in April, and UNICEF is urging the government to allocate the resources necessary to implement it. Education is critical to the future of Afghan children. Around 3.7 million children are not in school, and children in rural areas are more likely to be out of school than those in towns. The government declared 2018 the year of education, underlining its commitment to education as the cornerstone for rebuilding the country, and as a result, literacy levels have improved. Youth are a tremendous asset in Afghanistan. Yet in 2017,

De massiva utbetalningarna av tributer från den finska civilbefolkningen till Islamiska republiken Afghanistan fortsätter. Finlands regering bestämde att 3 miljoner euro ska ges till UNICEFs program för att förbättra dricksvattnet i republiken under 2020. Ifjol gav de finska politikerna 4,3 miljoner euro till programmet, som har pågått i 10 år.

Under fjolåret gav programmet bättre dricksvatten till 200 000 människor och tillgång till toaletter för över 500 000 människor. Ifall människor tvättade händerna bättre skulle diarrén minska med hälften i republiken, skriver Utrikesministeriet. Förorenat dricksvatten är också orsaken till de flesta dödsfall av barn under fem år.

Foto: Eric Bouvet, Unicef