The System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition (SEHAT) Program provides basic health services and essential hospital services for citizens in 7 district of Afghanistan’s Daykundi province. New facilities such as infant warmer, incubator machines coupled with better training and quality health services have noticeably reduced infant and maternal mortality.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Infant and maternal death rates are decreasing in Daykundi Province following the implementation of a government program to expand quality of basic health services and essential hospital services.

• Under the System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition (SEHAT) Program, a nongovernmental organization has been contracted to provide a basic package of health services in Daykundi province.

• The Program also is building local capacity in nursing and midwifery, strengthening trust between health centers and the community.

SHARISTAN DISTRICT, Daykundi Province– A father sits on a wooden chair and caresses his child, who is lying on a bed with his hand in a bandage. In a corner, a doctor checks the case papers of an elderly man whose hand is hooked up to an IV. The cleaner is scrubbing the floor with antiseptic and the air smells medicinal.

“Yesterday, my child fell from a height of three meters and lost consciousness,’’ says Mohammad Ibrahim, 35, a resident of Lokhtuk village. “When I came to Ulqan hospital, doctors treated us very well and they did everything they could to save my child. Now he is getting better.” Outside the Ulqan district hospital, there is a long line in the registration area of women who have brought their infants for vaccinations and a health checkup.

Ulqan is a 30-bed district hospital located in the Shahristan district of Daykundi in central Afghanistan. It is one of 39 health centers in Daykundi that provides health services under the System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition (SEHAT) Program, implemented by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

Under SEHAT, Première Urgence-Aide Médicale Internationale (PU-AMI), a French nongovernmental organization (NGO) has been contracted to provide a Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS) at these health centers. A major achievement following the implementation of SEHAT has been the fall in infant and maternal deaths in the province. PU-AMI has been working closely with the health centers to reduce child and maternal mortality.

According to PU-AMI, infant mortality has fallen from 27 per 1,000 live births in 2015 to 19 per 1,000 last year in Daykundi. Maternal mortality dropped in the same period from 387 per 100,000 live births to 286. The province appears to be doing well, given the national estimate for infant mortality is 70 per 1,000 and maternal mortality is 327 per 100,000.

The purchase of an infant warmer and incubator machines for Ulqan hospital under SEHAT has helped cut infant mortality rates to near zero in the district. “When there was no infant warmer or incubator machine in the hospital, we lost many newborns,” says Dr. Ahmad Masood Azimi, 32, PU-AMI supervisor in Shahristan district. “Now, we keep newborn babies with low body temperature in the machines and it has reduced infant mortality in Shahristan.”

Midwife Nazia, 43, affirms the achievement at the hospital: “Every month, 55 children are born in the Ulqan hospital. For the past two years, no mother or infant has died in our hospital.’’ The Ulqan district hospital was founded over 30 years ago as a small health center and now operates 24 hours a day. Its 35 staff members include a surgeon, doctors, nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians, vaccinators, and a pharmacist, covering a population of some 35,000.

Performance-based partnerships

SEHAT aims to expand the scope, quality, and coverage of health services provided to the population, particularly for the poor. It supports the provision and improvement of a basic package of health services and an essential package of hospital services to the entire country. It is supported by the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s fund for the poorest countries, and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), in partnership with multiple donors.

Since 2014, PU-AMI has implemented the BPHS, a set of six objectives that include increasing access to health services, building health staff capacity, promoting monitoring and evaluation, and managing pharmaceuticals, in Daykundi Province. PU-AMI’s contract is one of several performance-based partnership agreements between MoPH and NGOs to deliver the defined package of basic health services and essential hospital services. The provision of services by NGOs are monitored through the regular health management information system, and through facility and community assessment carried out by a third party

Building local capacity

Staff in the health centers under SEHAT receive training regularly in their field. In addition, the 329 health posts of the 39 health centers work closely with midwives and community health workers across the province and hold health-related seminars for villagers.

SEHAT provides Community Midwifery Education (CME) and Community Health Nursing Education (CHNE) programs to strengthen the capacity of women living in the province who want to study nursing or midwifery. The programs build strong trust between the people and health centers because graduates return to work in their villages.

In 2016, 24 women graduated from the CME program and 23 women from the CHNE program in Daykundi. These women were from the eight districts of the province and returned to their districts to work in the health centers after graduation. “When I graduated from school, I wanted to study nursing but my family’s economic problems prevented me from doing so,” says Nasima, 23, a fresh graduate of the CHNE program in Daykundi. “Now that I have successfully graduated from CHNE, I will serve my fellow villagers as a nurse to reduce death rates and raise their awareness.”

Ayaz Gul

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A suicide car bomber struck a convoy of government forces in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, killing at least 18 people and wounding six others.

Officials said the attack in the eastern city of Khost targeted a special unit of Afghan forces providing security for U.S. troops in the area.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the convoy near the city’s busy bus station, mostly harming civilians.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the violence, asserted the security convoy was hit in an area where there were no civilians.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack left 22 “enemy forces” dead and many more wounded.

He explained that it took the Taliban several months to plot the attack to punish the special forces, accusing them of committing human rights abuses against Afghans at the behest of American CIA personnel in Khost.

The Afghan province borders Pakistan's volatile tribal areas and used to be a stronghold of the notorious Haqqani network, which is staging attacks alongside the Taliban against NATO and Afghan forces.

The deadly bombing took place on the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Afghanistan, ignoring U.N. calls for both sides to cease hostilities to respect the religious occasion.

Taliban spokesman Mujahid has rejected as “ignorance of [Islamic] religion” calls for stopping “jihad” (fighting) in the holy month of fasting.

“Our fight is Jihad and obligatory worship, reward for every obligatory act of worship is multiplied x70 in Ramadan,” he said in a statement Saturday.

The spokesman went on to assert that the Taliban places “special attention” to protecting civilian lives while undertaking insurgent activities because hurting civilians “during Ramadan and otherwise is a crime.”

The Taliban has stepped up attacks on Afghan security forces and military installations around the country. The insurgents, in repeated attacks this week in the southern province of Kandahar alone, have killed more than 60 soldiers and wounded dozens more.

The deadliest attack on a military base in Afghanistan took place near the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in April in which more than 150 security forces were killed, though independent sources gave a much higher death toll.

Current major event

Implementation of Electronic EWARN Platform in EMRO

In collaboration with ITT unit of the Regional Office, the IHM unit of the Department of WHO Health Emergen- cies Programme in EMRO is developing a regional electronic platform for EWARN (Early warning Alert and Re- sponse Network) for humanitarian crisis affected settings.

Editorial note

Vulnerable populations who have survived the initial disaster should never have to face the prospect of dying from subsequent preventable disease outbreaks. EWARN is an early warning syndromic and event based surveillance system for humanitarian crisis settings to ensure timely detection and response to disease outbreaks. Populations affected by humanitarian crisis, whether internally displaced, refugees, or local host populations, often find themselves at increased risk of infectious hazards and disease outbreaks. This is often due to undue exposure to disease transmitting vectors; compromised water quality and sanitary conditions that increase the risk of water borne diseases; and poor overcrowded shelters that increase the risk of respiratory spread of pathogens.

EWARN has been implemented by WHO in collaboration with the Ministries of Health and a network of NGOs providing health care services to affected populations through fixed and temporary health facilities. However recent experiences in different contexts in several countries in humanitarian crisis in the region have shown that unless these systems are implemented in a timely manner, and optimized through appropriate real time innovative electronic solutions, their true value may not be realized in certain contexts. Unique challenges include insecurity barriers that render manual data transmission EWARN systems ineffective, as well as delays and incomplete reporting often associated with manual reporting.

Use of innovative real time electronic EWARN solutions in recent and ongoing humanitarian crisis in countries in the region such as Yemen, Iraq and Libya has demonstrated the value of these solutions in surmounting insecurity barriers to enable monitoring of disease occurrence among vulnerable displaced and host populations in hard to reach areas, cut off from direct access by insecurity and battle front lines. These tools have also bridged epidemiological analysis and reports preparation skills gaps that are often encountered in such setting by enabling automated data summarization and generation of epidemiological reports for stakeholders.

Despite its value, deployment of technology in EWARN systems has proved tenuous at best. In the recent past challenges encountered have included difficulties in finding expert developers in a timely manner, delays in contractual arrangements with the experts because of pending donor appeals, and extended periods of time we can ill afford spent on addressing server and hosting issues.

The proposed regional electronic EWARN platform addresses these challenges by ensuring: i) a simple and user friendly electronic EWARN solution that can be easily customized and deployed in a new country setting; ii) back up hosting at Regional office for rapid and timely deployment while local hosting in the country is being addressed; iii) maintenance and customization of the electronic applications by readily accessible WHO staff for timely implementation and reliability of the electronic EWARN systems.

The European Commission has announced humanitarian assistance of over €44 million to help people in need in south-west and Central Asia, who continue to face the consequences of years of conflicts and displacement, as well as recurrent natural disasters. The funding will support Afghan refugees and their families in Iran and Pakistan, help victims of conflict in Afghanistan, and improve disaster risk management in Central Asia.

"The EU's assistance announced today will help hundreds of thousands of people affected by conflicts and natural disasters in south-west and Central Asia. I was recently in the region and saw first-hand the humanitarian needs. Children always suffer the most in long-lasting crises which is why a significant part this funding will also focus on education in emergencies. Investing in children's future is crucial for the stabilisation of the entire region," said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides. The Commissioner made the announcement today as he met with Mr Neil Buhne, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan.

€25.5 million will help internally displaced people in Afghanistan who have fled conflict or been injured, as well as the most vulnerable Afghan refugees returning to their country. The assistance will focus on areas such as protection, food, emergency shelter, health, water, hygiene and sanitation.

The EU will also sustain and expand its support in Iran. Humanitarian organisations working in Iran will receive close to €10 million to help in efforts to provide for the basic needs of Afghan refugees and their families. The emphasis will be on children's education, protection, food, water, health and sanitation. Organisations in Pakistan will benefit from funding of about €7 million, which will notably help Pakistanis who have been displaced by internal conflict and also help provide essential services for Afghan refugees.

In Central Asia, over €2 million will be provided for disaster risk reduction so communities are better prepared to respond to natural hazards. The Commission has funded a number of such programmes in the region since 1996.

The European Commission has announced humanitarian assistance of over €44 million to help people in need in South-West and Central Asia, who continue to face the consequences of years of conflicts and displacement, as well as recurrent natural disasters.

The funding will support Afghan refugees and their families in Iran and Pakistan, help victims of conflict in Afghanistan and improve disaster risk management in Central Asia.

"_The EU's assistance announced today will help hundreds of thousands of people affected by conflicts and natural disasters in South-West and Central Asia. I was recently in the region and saw first-hand the humanitarian needs. Children always suffer the most in long-lasting crises which is why a significant part of this funding will also focus on education in emergencies. Investing in children's future is crucial for the stabilisation of the entire region_," said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos **Stylianides**. The Commissioner made the announcement as he met today with Mr Neil Buhne, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan.

€25.5 million will help internally displaced people in **Afghanistan** who have had to flee conflict or been injured, as well as the most vulnerable Afghan refugees returning to their country. The assistance will focus on areas such as protection, food, emergency shelter, health, water, hygiene and sanitation.

The EU will also sustain and expand its support in Iran. Humanitarian organisations working in **Iran** will receive close to €10 million to help them complement efforts to provide for the basic needs of Afghan refugees and their families, with emphasis on education of children, protection, food, water, health and sanitation.

Organisations in **Pakistan** will benefit from funding of about €7 million, which will notably help Pakistanis who have been displaced by internal conflict and also help provide essential services for Afghan refugees.

In **Central Asia, **over €2 million will be provided for disaster risk reduction so communities are better prepared to respond to natural hazards. The Commission has funded a number of such programmes in the region since 1996.

For more information:
Factsheet on Afghanistan
Factsheet on Pakistan
Factsheet on Iran
Factsheet on Central Asia

All Countries Should Act to Protect Schools During War

Bede Sheppard
Deputy Director, Children's Rights Division

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Safe Schools Declaration, an inter-governmental political commitment by which countries express support for protecting students, teachers, schools, and universities from attack during times of war. The declaration was developed through consultations with countries in a process led by Norway and Argentina in early 2015, and was opened for endorsement at the Oslo Conference on Safe Schools on May 29, 2015.

By joining the Safe Schools Declaration, countries commit to undertake several common sense steps to make it less likely that students, teachers, schools, and universities will be attacked, and to mitigate the impact of attacks that occur. These include:

• collecting reliable data on attacks and military use of schools and universities;
• assisting victims of attacks;
• investigating violations of national and international law and prosecuting perpetrators;
• developing and promoting “conflict sensitive” approaches to education;
• seeking to continue education during armed conflict;
• supporting the United Nation’s work on the children and armed conflict agenda; and
• using guidelines to protect schools and universities from military use, and bringing them into domestic policy and operational frameworks.

So far 65 countries– one-third of the world’s countries – have endorsed the declaration, including many affected by armed conflict.

But it’s not just the number of supporters that indicates the success of the Safe Schools Declaration; it’s best seen in the concrete changes that it is bringing about.

Several countries have made explicit plans to implement protections for schools from military use in their military trainings and doctrine. Militants using schools in the Central African Republic are being pressured to leave so students can go for classes again. In Afghanistan, the education ministry has used the declaration to advocate for the removal of military checkpoints and bases from schools. Nigeria is enhancing school security. Somalia’s defense ministry has expanded its child protection unit, and charged it with ensuring student safety. Non-state armed groups in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have been trained in how to protect schools from military use. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, monitoring and reporting on attacks on schools has improved. And in March in Buenos Aires, representatives from 85 countries met to plan what more could be done in the years to come.

The Safe Schools Declaration is already making students safer. No wonder then that last week the UN Secretary-General urged all countries to endorse the declaration. Let’s see that they do.

MoRR has saved 42 ML AFN from its budget in year 1395 and refunded to the government account. In a press conference held at GMIC on Sunday, Said Husain Alemi Balkhi, Minister Refugees and Repatriation said: after investigations on land distribution in Laghman province, it was distinguished that the process of land distribution was highly corrupted. Mr. Balkhi added that corrupted people were referred to justice and judicial sector.

Refugees and Repatriation minister also said that in Balkh province, number of residential lands were returned and the process is ongoing. He added that 1800 acres land in Beni Warsak residential town of Parwan province was retaken from land grabbing mafia, also, in Khost province, business areas of Qalamwal Mena residential town was released from land grabbing groups’ seizure.

Mr. Balkhi pointed to developing and approving of anti-corruption policy and its implementation program, establishing counter corruption policy implementation committee, cooperation with joint monitoring and evaluation committee of anti-corruption, as part of activities in fighting corruption in MoRR. He added that ministry was at first place among corruption organizations, but according to the recent reports of the committee, MoRR is among the transparent ministries.

Ces deux dernières années, les talibans, les forces armées afghanes et d'autres groupes armés ont mené plus de 240 attaques contre des structures médicales, en violation des règles du droit international humanitaire. Ces attaques, au cours desquelles des hôpitaux et des dispensaires ont été endommagés ou détruits et d'innombrables professionnels de la santé blessés ou tués, contribuent à porter un coup fatal à un système de santé déjà exsangue.

Alors que le nombre de victimes de cette violence ne cesse d'augmenter, au même titre que les taux de malnutrition et de maladies diarrhéiques ou à prévention vaccinale, ce sont souvent les enfants qui paient le plus lourd tribut.

À ce titre, le récit de cet Afghan fait froid dans le dos. Son fils de 15 ans avait eu les deux pieds arrachés par une mine. L'unique centre de traumatologie de la ville de Kunduz ayant été détruit, l'adolescent n'avait pas pu se faire soigner sur place. Le père et le fils avaient alors dû se rendre à Kaboul, la capitale : un voyage en taxi de plus de 300 km. Quand le garçon avait enfin pu être pris en charge, il était trop tard.

« Il a fallu l'amputer des deux jambes, juste en-dessous de la taille : ses os avaient été broyés par l'explosion et les plaies s'étaient infectées, raconte le père. La première semaine, il a tenu bon, mais il est ensuite tombé dans le coma. Dix jours plus tard, il mourait à l'hôpital, emporté par une grave infection. »

Il y a aussi le cas de cette jeune fille de 15 ans souffrant de méningite, qui a mis une semaine avant de trouver un hôpital prêt à s'occuper d'elle. Là aussi, c'était trop tard : elle est morte peu de temps après avoir été prise en charge.

Ce ne sont là que deux des nombreuses histoires toutes plus tragiques les unes que les autres, qui m'ont été rapportées lors d'un voyage en Afghanistan, en novembre dernier, pour le compte de Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict – en vue de la publication du rapport intitulé "Every Clinic is Now on the Frontline – The Impact on Children of Attacks on Health Care ". À cette occasion, les gens que mes collègues et moi avons rencontrés(les enfants eux-mêmes, leurs parents, les personnels de santé ou encore les travailleurs humanitaires) n'ont cessé de nous expliquer à quel point l'accès à des soins de santé vitaux était rendu difficile, et combien d'enfants en mouraient. Dans un pays qui figure toujours parmi les plus dangereux au monde pour le personnel des organismes humanitaires, les hôpitaux et autres établissements médicaux sont désormais les champs de bataille d'un conflit où les professionnels de la santé se retrouvent en première ligne.

Loin d'être les lieux de guérison qu'ils devraient être, les hôpitaux et les dispensaires sont devenus les cibles de prédilection d'un conflit afghan qui gagne chaque jour davantage en intensité. « Les attaques sont si fréquentes, nous a confié un directeur de la santé, que la plupart du temps, on renonce tout simplement à en parler. » Ces derniers mois, des incidents se sont produits dans au moins 20 des 34 provinces que compte le pays, rendant l'accès aux soins difficile, si pas totalement impossible.

Il n'est pas rare que les belligérants forcent des structures médicales à fermer leurs portes, volent du matériel médical et des ambulances, menacent des personnels de santé, les arrêtent ou les tuent. L'un d'eux nous a raconté qu'il avait été pris à parti par des talibans lors d'une campagne de vaccination contre la polio. Ces derniers l'avaient averti que s'il continuait à vacciner, ils le tueraient. Il avait ensuite subi des menaces de la part de combattants de l'état islamique et avait fini par abandonner la tâche.

« J'ai constaté de mes propres yeux qu'un territoire grand comme un mouchoir de poche peut être contrôlé par plusieurs groupes à la fois : les talibans, les combattants de l'EI et le gouvernement. C'est ainsi que notre dispensaire s'était retrouvé pris en étau entre différentes factions. Alors, même si c'était mon job, je n'ai pas eu d'autre choix que de renoncer ; sinon, ils m'auraient tué, les talibans ou l'état islamique », se lamente-t-il.

Menaces et extorsions sont monnaie courante. En février 2015, un groupe d'hommes non identifiés ont abattu un agent communautaire qui participait à un programme de lutte contre la polio mené par l'UNICEF. En août 2016, c'était au tour d'un collaborateur d'une organisation non gouvernementale qui supervisait une campagne de vaccination contre la polio d'être enlevé par un groupe taliban.

Les conséquences de ces attaques systématiques contre les systèmes de soins et les professionnels de la santé sont très graves. Selon des chiffres avancés par la Mission d'assistance des Nations Unies en Afghanistan (MANUA), le nombre d'enfants qui en auraient été victimes a augmenté de 24 % entre 2015 et 2016. Par ailleurs, aujourd'hui, plus d'un million d'enfants afghans souffrent de malnutrition aiguë, soit un accroissement de 40 % depuis janvier 2015, d'après l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS). L'incidence des maladies contagieuses est elle aussi très élevée. L'OMS fait état de 169 épidémies de rougeole pour la seule année 2015, ce qui équivaut à une augmentation sans précédent de 141 % depuis 2014.

Face à cette situation, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflictappelle toutes les parties à mettre au plus vite un terme à ces attaques. Même en temps de guerre, un minimum d'humanité doit prévaloir, ne serait-ce que pour permettre aux enfants malades ou blessés de recevoir les soins dont ils ont besoin.

Par Christine Monaghan Chargée de recherches pour le réseau d'organisations non gouvernementales Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict

Les articles publiés dans le bulletin d'information du projet « Les soins de santé en danger » n'engagent que leur auteur et ne reflètent pas nécessairement la position du CICR.

Afghan, Iranian Children Lack Status, Risk Child Labor 

(Brussels, May 31, 2017) – Many child asylum seekers in Turkey are not going to school because of arbitrary policies for asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch said today. The Turkish interior ministry should revise the policies for non-Syrian asylum seekers that are preventing these vulnerable children from getting an education, despite their right to it under Turkish and international law.

“Turkish law guarantees all children the right to education, but for many child asylum seekers this is an empty promise,” said Simon Rau, Mercator fellow on children’s rights at Human Rights Watch. “There are feasible steps that Turkey should take to get all children, including asylum seekers, into school.”

In March 2017, Human Rights Watch interviewed the families of 68 Afghan and Iranian children ages 5 to 17, in Denizli, Trabzon, and Gümüşhane, which are among places asylum seekers are assigned, and in Istanbul, which is not. Thousands of Afghans and others have nonetheless moved to Istanbul in search of work, and as a result do not have legal status and are at risk of arrest.

Turkey hosts more refugees and asylum seekers than any other country in the world, including 2.8 million Syrians and about 290,000 people from other countries, mostly Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. In Turkey, asylum seekers from countries other than Syria are required to live in assigned cities, and are restricted from moving elsewhere even if there are few job opportunities and limited aid where they are assigned. Asylum seekers who stay in their assigned city may face poverty-related barriers to education, with parents unable to meet associated costs or feeling they have little choice but to send their children to work rather than school. Those who move in search of work lose their legal status, without which they cannot enroll their children in school.

There are 42,221 school-aged refugees and asylum-seekers from countries other than Syria in Turkey, according to government statistics, but there is no reliable data on how many of them are enrolled in schools. With donor support, the Turkish government has pledged to enroll all Syrian refugee children by the end of the current school year in June 2017, but no similar promises have been made for other child asylum seekers. School enrollment increased by 50 percent for Syrian children in 2016 over the previous school year.

Turkish asylum law and practice differentiate between European, Syrian, and non-Syrian asylum seekers. Non-Syrians must obtain and maintain legal status by registering every two weeks in their assigned city, cannot change their city on the basis that there is no available work or humanitarian support there, and must obtain permits even to travel temporarily.

Seven children Human Rights Watch interviewed, six of them in Istanbul, could not go to school because they lack legal status in Turkey. Two said they knew a 17-year-old undocumented Afghan boy who was arrested in Istanbul and deported in January.

Sharukh, 18, whose full name is not being used for his protection, as with others interviewed, is from Afghanistan, and has lived for five months in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district. His family is not registered as asylum seekers, and none of his five siblings, ages 6 to 14, have been able to enroll in school because they do not have valid documents, he said. “I don’t know how it will ever be possible for them to go to school,” Sharukh said.

Turkey’s Ministry of National Education has instructed schools to allow children to attend classes as guests if they are in the process of obtaining status as asylum seekers. But that doesn’t apply to children without status in cities like Istanbul, where non-Syrians are not permitted to reside.

But even in other cities, some child asylum seekers were not aware that they could enroll or school staff had not told them of this option. And guest students who do not yet have official identity cards do not get school reports that certify they have finished the grade at the end of the school year. Ten children interviewed were in school but had missed four months to a full year of education because they were waiting to obtain legal status, or had been told by school directors when they finally received official identification that they could not enroll so late in the year and would have to wait until the next year.

Some families described arbitrary decisions by school directors or local education ministry officials that kept children out of school. Three Afghan students dropped out after their school director arbitrarily refused to allow them to take a secondary school entrance exam, insisting that they had to enroll in a vocational school.

Poverty also keeps some children out of school by driving them into child labor. Nineteen of the children interviewed, 10 of them in Istanbul, were working or were looking for work. Turkey allows asylum seekers to apply for a work permit – with the support of a sponsoring employer in the city where the asylum seeker is assigned – six months after their initial asylum application. But official requirements are such that in practice there is very little opportunity for asylum seekers to obtain work in the formal job market. For example, the employer must employ at least five Turkish nationals for every foreigner. Staff at Turkish groups that support refugees and asylum seekers said that potential sponsors are reluctant to regularize informal workers because of requirements to pay the minimum wage and social security contributions.

None of the asylum seekers interviewed who had been in Turkey for more than six months had a work permit, because they could not find an employer to sponsor them. A social worker who has worked for two-and-a-half years to support refugees in Istanbul said she had never heard of any non-Syrians obtaining a work permit. The head of a charitable association that supports Afghans living in Trabzon, a city on the Black Sea, said that only about 25 out of 4,200 Afghans in Trabzon have work permits, and that police repeatedly arrest Afghans for working without a permit and threaten to deport them.

The obstacles that parents face to work legally make it difficult to afford to send their children to school. Public school tuition is free, but in three cases, families of children interviewed said they could not afford school-related costs like transportation, stationery, uniforms, and supplies.

Masumah, an 18-year-old from Afghanistan who lives in Denizli, came to Turkey three years ago. She was able to attend secondary school for one year because a Turkish private donor had paid her monthly school transportation fees of 150 Turkish Lira (about US$42), although “at noon I could not afford to buy anything to eat.” She had to drop out two years ago when her benefactor stopped providing support. Masumah’s father, Sarvar, earns 10 to 15 lira ($2.70 to $4.10) a day collecting recyclable materials from trash. The dailyminimum wage in Turkey is 59 lira ($16). “We went hungry for three nights, a few nights ago,” Sarvar said. “We did not even have enough money to buy bread.”

Refugee families and children described a lack of Turkish language support. Turkey operates civic centers that provide language instruction for all ages, but asylum seekers must present proof of their lawful status to enroll, and several asylum seekers said they found the classes inadequate and dropped out. Extra Turkish language classes were not available in public schools for any of the children interviewed.

Turkey should ensure that asylum seekers are not assigned to cities without job opportunities or available aid, should provide information about the support available, and should allow asylum seekers to change satellite cities based on financial need. While Turkey has a legitimate interest in managing the residency of asylum seekers in its territory, the Education Ministry should allow children to enroll in schools regardless of their legal status, and enforce its policies by providing a way for families to seek redress for children wrongly excluded, including sanctions for officials who issue arbitrary decisions.

The government should make work permits more accessible by ending the requirement for sponsorship. International donors should ensure that aid to allow children to attend school is available, based on need. Arbitrary barriers for children to take secondary school qualification examinations, such as possessing a passport, should be removed.

“Education gives children and families hope, creates skills and wealth, and improves children’s health, so the benefits for children are matched by the benefits for Turkey,” Rau said. “The choice is between a better future or a gravely uncertain one.”

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on children’s rights, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on education, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/education

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Turkey, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/turkey

Asylum, Education for Non-Syrians in Turkey
Turkish law mandates 12 years of free and compulsory education for all children. The Turkish Law on Foreigners and International Protection (LFIP) specifies that child asylum seekers shall have access to both primary and secondary education. But the law also establishes four categories for refugee status. Applicants from European countries are eligible for formal refugee status, Syrians may apply for temporary protection, and other nationalities, including Afghans and Iranians, may apply for “conditional refugee” or “subsidiary protection” status, which provide rights to education, health services, and work if certain requirements are met.

To obtain legal status, non-Syrians must first travel to Ankara to register as asylum seekers. The Interior Ministry’s Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) then assigns them to one of the 62 so-called “satellite cities” across the country. The ministry may “close” satellite cities to new asylum seekers. Turkey’s three largest cities – Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara – are not satellite cities, and as a rule, non-Syrian asylum seekers cannot lawfully live there.

Syrians are not required to live in satellite cities, but they face different obstacles to education, including a backlog in the processing of requests for identification documents required to enroll in public schools. All of the Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers interviewed who are attending public schools are enrolled alongside Turkish students, whereas many Syrian students attend “second shift” classes in the afternoon and evening in which there are no Turkish children.

Turkey has allowed Syrian refugees to establish “temporary education centers” for Syrian children, which teach an Arabic curriculum accredited by the Education Ministry, but is phasing out these schools and has stated that Syrian children must be enrolled in Turkish schools by the end of the 2017-2018 school year.

Non-Syrian asylum seekers must travel to their assigned city and submit proof of an address there and their asylum application to the provincial branch of the migration agency. None of the families who spoke to Human Rights Watch had received any support from either UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, or the Turkish authorities for transportation costs, or to find accommodation, which often requires a deposit to a landlord.

A social worker who supports refugees in Istanbul said the system was especially hard for poor families with children, as “they have to start a life from zero without support.” Afghan asylum seekers said they received no information in Ankara about any services that might be available in their assigned city, and several families said they slept in public parks for days after they arrived.

Ultimately, the migration agency provides asylum seekers who meet their criteria with an identification card and number. This document, valid for renewable one-year periods, is proof of legal stay in Turkey and is required to enroll in school and get other services – although the ministry instructs public schools to allow children in the process of applying as asylum seekers to attend as guests. Children can be enrolled as “guest students” without this identification card, but do not receive school reports confirming that they passed the academic grade.

Asylum seekers must obtain a permit to travel outside their satellite city, and must check in with the migration agency every two weeks. If they fail to do so three consecutive times, their residency is invalidated and their asylum application is considered withdrawn. They may only change their satellite city under narrow circumstances, such as if they require regular medical treatment that is not available in their city.

None of the asylum seekers interviewed in Istanbul had valid residency permits and all risked being detained. They said they were afraid to go outdoors after police detained between 150 to 200 undocumented Afghans, including an unaccompanied 17-year-old boy, during sweeps in Zeytinburnu in January and February.

Local Officials Impose Arbitrary Barriers
Turkish asylum law provides for special support to unaccompanied children and refers to the best interests of the child, but arbitrary decisions by some local officials have instead barred children from education. E., 17, from Afghanistan, said he had been temporarily separated from his family in Iran when they fled to Turkey five months ago. He reached Turkey and registered as an asylum seeker in Ankara, asking to be assigned to Trabzon, where he has other relatives. But he was assigned to another satellite city. His immediate family arrived in Turkey later and were assigned to Trabzon. He informed the local migration agency office but was told that he could not be reassigned, he said. E. went to Trabzon but cannot enroll in school because he lacks legal status.

Some local Education Ministry officials have arbitrarily imposed hurdles that kept asylum-seeking children out-of-school, including not allowing them to enroll with guest status.

Masumah from Afghanistan tried to enroll her children, Arzu and Asif, in school shortly after they came to Trabzon in late 2015. The school initially accepted the children, but after a week, a school official said they could not continue studying without identification cards. When they received their cards several weeks later, the school told her that they had missed too much of the school year. She was unable to enroll them until the following year.

Romina, 16, from Iran, tried to enroll in secondary school when her family came to Denizli two-and-a-half years ago. But officials from the Education Ministry’s local branch told her that as a refugee she could only attend school for one day a week: “I was really embarrassed – I wanted to go to school but they did not allow it,” Romina said, in fluent English. She was “finding English and math lessons for myself, online,” to continue learning.

In another case, the head of an Afghan association in Trabzon told Human Rights Watch that he complained without effect to the Education Ministry after the director of the Yüzüncü Yil public school in Trabzon arbitrarily barred eight Afghan students from taking an admissions exam for high school at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. As a result, three of the students dropped out of school, and the other five enrolled in religious or vocational high schools.

Secondary schools in Trabzon allow Afghan students who have not graduated from a Turkish primary school to take placement exams, but require the children to present a passport, which many Afghan children do not have.

Impact of Poverty on Access to Education
Poverty is a key obstacle to education for child asylum seekers, and can be exacerbated if they are assigned to a satellite city where their parents have little chance to find work.

Alia, 44, from Afghanistan, said that her sons Amir Khan, 17, Umid, 15, and Farid, 13, do not go to school because they work to support the family, including four other children. Alia lives in Trabzon, but Umid and Farid work serving tea in Bayburt, a city 140 kilometers away. They work nine hours a day, five days a week, and earn 25 lira (US$6.90) a day. In Bayburt, they sleep at their workplace or at friends’ apartments, and come home once a week.

Osman, a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan who is living in Istanbul with his family, told Human Rights Watch that he and his brother Omar, 15, work in a textile workshop 11 hours a day, 5 days a week. Without their combined monthly income of 1,900 Turkish lira (US$518), their family could not afford rent. They had to stop going to school in Kunduz, Afghanistan, more than two years ago because of fighting between the Taliban and security forces close to their school. Shortly thereafter, their family fled to Turkey. None of their Afghan friends of their age are going to school. “Who wouldn’t want to go to school, if they can afford it,” Osman said.

Some child asylum seekers do hazardous work. In Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district, Human Rights Watch spoke to A., who said he was “13 or 14 years old” and works 12 hours a day, 6 days a week at a junk yard where he collects scrap material. He earns about 600 lira (US$163) a month, but has skin problems that he thinks are caused by substances he handles. Turkey provides non-Syrian asylum seekers who obtain residency in their assigned city access to public hospitals, but like other Afghans in Istanbul, A. is undocumented. Several doctors refused to treat him because he does not have papers and could not pay, he said. A. has never been to school, and came to Turkey on his own from Jalalabad. He would like to return home to his family, he said, but cannot afford to.

Mustafa, 54, and his 16-year-old son live in Denizli, where they were assigned after they fled to Turkey from Iran in 2012. Mustafa’s medical documents show he has diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and is unable to work. He receives health care at public hospitals in Denizli, but said he skips blood sugar tests because of the cost, to afford stationery, a uniform, and other school-related expenses for his 16-year-old son. “My plight will in no way interfere with the education of my son,” Mustafa said.

Few if any undocumented child asylum seekers who are injured on the job can afford private health care. Abdul Kahar, a Turkish citizen of Afghan origin, said that in early 2016, he encountered a 15-year-old Afghan boy in Istanbul “who was crying in the street who had hurt his back loading wood onto a truck.” Abdul Kahar took the boy to a hospital, but staff refused to admit him because he was undocumented. “I took him to a second hospital and paid for him. His parents sold a cow so they could buy him a plane ticket to go back home” to Afghanistan.

Limited Aid 
Humanitarian aid could go some way to alleviate the poverty which keeps many child asylum seekers out of school. But aid is inconsistent and limited.

Some asylum seekers in Turkey receive support from public Social Service Centers (Sosyal Hizmet Merkezleri) or Social Support and Solidarity Foundations (Sosyal Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Vakıflar), differing from province to province. Peyman, from Afghanistan, said that the only aid provided to Afghan families in Gümüşhane is distributions of coal. Mustafa, an Iranian refugee in Denizli, said he receives support of 150 Turkish Lira (about US$35) every three months.

UNHCR provides monthly support payments to refugees who have successfully undergone an interview that assesses whether they have a right to international protection, but as of mid-March, these payments had been interrupted for all the recognized Afghan and Iranian refugees whom Human Rights Watch interviewed, after the processing of the payments was moved from Garanti Bank to the Turkish post office, PTT, in January.

Sarvar, an Afghan man in Denizli, said his family of five had received 225 lira (US$61) per month until December 2016. When he went to collect the January 2017 payment, he was referred to the PTT, where staff told him that he had to show a text message confirming his eligibility. He had not received one. Nisrullahin, 52, from Afghanistan, who lives with his wife and seven children in Gümüşhane, said that he used to receive 290 lira ($79) per month, but the payments had stopped beginning in January and he did not know why.

In January, a €348 (US$371) million European Union-sponsored humanitarian assistance program in Turkey began providing monthly cash allowances to vulnerable asylum seekers from Syria and also other countries. The program aims to support 1 million people in 2017. None of the Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers interviewed in March was receiving assistance under the program.

Lack of Language Support and Non-Formal Education
Refugee families and children described a lack of Turkish language support, or the poor quality of such support, as a barrier to education. Asylum seekers who have legal status can enroll in free Turkish classes at public education centers (halk e_ğitim merkezi_). A number of children and their parents attended classes held on weekends at the centers, but had dropped out without being able to achieve an adequate level of conversational Turkish or functional literacy.

Gulsun, 32, from Afghanistan, said that the Turkish class at the center in Trabzon included adults and children and that lessons were repeated whenever a new student was added to the class, and that there was no instruction tailored to different levels of proficiency. She stopped attending classes after six months, and still cannot support her sons, Amir, 6, and Mohammed, 10, with their Turkish homework or adequately communicate with their teachers. Two child asylum seekers in Denizli said that they were able to continue to secondary school, but were placed in vocational rather than academic tracks due to their lack of Turkish proficiency.

None of the families Human Rights Watch interviewed had children in non-formal education programs. Unlike Syrian refugees, Turkey has not allowed Afghans or Iranians to establish accredited informal schools, but in some cases, accredited non-formal classes may be the only way to provide education.

Ahmad Hossein, 47, from Afghanistan, has lived with his family in Gümüşhane for a year and a half. He said that his daughter Nasifa, 14, had never gone to school. “She can’t start in grade one,” he said, but also could not be integrated into the grade level that corresponds to her age.

Kabul car bombing: 69 injured hospitalised at the EMERGENCY Surgery Hospital.

This morning, at 8:30 am, Kabul was hit by yet another attack: a car bomb explosion, at a time when the streets were very crowded, has caused tens of deaths and hundreds of wounded in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, the embassy area.

The EMERGENCY Hospital, a few hundred yards away, has accommodated 69 wounded, 8 dead on arrival. The A&E ward is still full of patients. The hospital also suffered some damage, but our staff are fine and they are working tirelessly to assist the injured.

"We've been here offering surgical assistance to victims of war for 16 years. 16 years: yet this war does not only give no sign of ending, but it's becoming increasingly violent, even in the capital" says Dejan Panic, Coordinator of the hospital.

New furniture helps keep Afghan refugee and Pakistani children in schools

QUETTA, 31 May, 2017: Nine year-old Nadia Abdul Waris attends school with enthusiasm since her school has received new sets furniture for students. “Sitting on the floor was very uncomfortable and I always wished to go to a well-furnished school as shown on TV,” says the fourth grade student of government girls high school, Killi Alam Khan in Pakistan’s north-western city of Quetta.

Killi Alam Khan, is one of the twenty-six government schools where the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provided furniture earlier this year. The school furniture initiative was funded by the United States of America, currently, one of UNHCR’s biggest donors worldwide. UNHCR distributed the furniture in public schools through the Provincial Education Department of Balochistan.

Nadia and her four best friends now love their fully furnished, bright classroom and colourful school building. The girls feel more comfortable during their classwork and enjoy not sitting on the floor.

The principal of Nadia’s school, Qaisra Naseem, stated that the majority of students in her school are underprivileged having limited access to the basic facilities of life. She noted that school facilities can have a profound impact on both teacher and student outcomes and contribute greatly to improved learning environment.

Ms Naseem and her staff with limited resources took on the initiative of improving the overall look of school by decorating the walls involving the students.

Naseem expressed gratitude towards UNHCR and the people of the United States of America for making it possible to create a supportive environment for learning. “The provision of furniture will encourage more girls to attend school as well as send a positive message to the community for the promotion of girls’ education.” She noted.

According to Naseem, Balochistan has the highest proportion of out-of-school children, as well high drop-out rate. The lack of basic facilities like furniture in schools only contributes to the already exacerbated plight of education.

The doors of the government girls high school, Killi Alam Khan, are open equally to children from Pakistani as well as Afghan refugees residing in Quetta. Nadia’s best friend, Sahiba Agha is an Afghan refugee born in Pakistan. Just like the rest of her classmates, she too loves the new look of her classroom.

Inspired by her teachers, Sahiba too wants to become a teacher. Sharing her future plans, Sahiba said: “I will build a beautiful school with colourful walls, bright classroom and a playground. I will buy furniture similar to my school.”

Dinesh Shrestha, head of UNHCR Quetta, appreciated the generosity of the people and government of Pakistan for hosting Afghan refugees for nearly four decades.

He said: “Education has consistently been recognised as the cornerstone of development for any country or region. Through our partner organisations and support from international community, UNHCR is working to ensure that the poorest and most marginalised children in Balochistan can go to school, can stay in school and can have access to a quality school education.”

School selection for the furniture was done after a joint assessment carried out by UNHCR and the provincial education department of Balochistan. Some 14,800 students in 26 public schools, both Pakistani and Afghan refugees, have benefitted from the initiative in Quetta city.

The furniture included sets of 1,125 two seater desks and benches, 105 teacher chairs, 105 teacher tables, 105 rostrums, 105 staff room tables, 630 staff room teacher chairs, 900 tables and chairs for students, 450 computer tables, 30 teacher tables for computer labs, 30 side-racks, 8 laboratory tables, 900 laboratory stools, 135 white boards, 240 cupboards for class rooms, 30 cupboards for science lab, 900 computer chairs for students and 30 chairs for the computer labs for teachers.

By Humera Karim in Quetta

KABUL, 31 May 2017 - The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns today’s indiscriminate suicide attack in downtown Kabul that killed at least 65 people and injured more than 300, mostly civilians. Casualty numbers are expected to rise.

UNAMA expresses its condolences to the loved ones of those killed in the attack and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.

The blast took place when a suicide attacker detonated a vehicle-borne explosive device in the Wazir Akhbar Khan area of the Afghan capital, part of the city typically crowded with civilians at that hour. In addition to the hundreds of people killed and injured, considerable damage to the immediate and surrounding area was caused, with some embassies being seriously affected.

“Beyond the immeasurable human suffering caused by today’s attack, the deliberate detonation of a massive truck bomb in a civilian area, particularly during the peaceful month of Ramadan, is morally reprehensible and an outrage,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.

“Today’s attack is an act of terrorism and is serious violation of humanitarian law,” said Yamamoto, who is also the head of UNAMA. “There can be no exceptions: the use of explosive weapons in civilian-populated areas must stop.”

Kabul witnessed a higher number of civilian casualties than any other region in Afghanistan in 2016, according to UNAMA’s latest protection of civilians annual report.

UNAMA urges all parties to the conflict to strictly adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law to take all feasible measures to protect civilians from harm.

So far this year (January-May), Afghanistan has already seen 1,229 civilians deaths and injuries from explosive violence, including those from today's IED attack in Kabul, which killed 80 and injured 350. This is a 53% increase compared to the harm seen in the same period last year.

88% of all civilian casualties from explosive violence in Afghanistan so far this year have been caused by IEDs.

Afghanistan has consistently been one of the states worst impacted by explosive violence. Between 2011-2016 Afghanistan has seen 20,625 deaths and injuries from explosive violence. Of these, 63% (12,922) were civilians.

IEDs have, by far, caused the most harm in this period, with 81% of civilian deaths and injuries caused by such weapons.

Whilst civilian harm from explosive violence is not currently at the level it has reached in some previous years, notably 2011, the harm caused is still significant.

Last year, there were 4,095 deaths and injuries from explosive violence - 54% (2,199) were civilians. The number of civilian casualties from explosive violence, represented an 8% increase from the previous year. Of the civilian deaths and injuries, 84% were caused by IEDs.

Whilst security personnel such as police and military have also seen losses due to IED use, Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of this harm. When IEDs have been used in populated areas so far this year, an average of 98% of the casualties have been civilians.

In December, 2015 the General Assembly of the United Nations in their Seventieth Session adopted Resolution A/RES/70/46 – ‘Countering the threat posed by improvised explosive devices.’ The Resolution, which expressed grave concern over the devastation caused by the increasing use of improvised explosive devices was submitted by the government of Afghanistan.

Whilst Afghanistan does express a desire to counter the threat of IEDs, the impact of such devices has been increasing since 2013, despite a continued steady decrease in the number of IED incidents.

More needs to be done to counter IEDs at state and global level, which requires greater cooperation and coordination between all states and relevant organisations. AOAV calls for states and international organisations to work collaboratively to generate greater awareness of the number of civilians killed and injured each year by IEDs, and encourage a greater stigma from political, religious and social leaders on the use of IEDs. States must urgently address the threat of IED attacks. There is an urgent need for preventative measures to be implemented by States and the international community to reduce the impact of such devices in countries such as Afghanistan and others highly impacted by IEDs.

For more on counter-IED initiatives, please see here.

To read AOAV’s latest report, Understanding the regional and transnational networks that facilitate IED use, please read here.

Tehran, Iran, 31 May2017- A €1,050,000 contribution from the European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) has been allocated to support UNICEF’s work for Afghan Refugee Children in the Islamic Republic of Iran in partnership with the government.

“The European Commission is committed to supporting children, who constitute over 35% of the Afghan refugee population in Iran. Our cooperation with UNICEF is therefore crucial investing in access to adequate health care and education in the early years of childhood is a lifelong investment" said Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

The funding will support UNICEF’s ongoing joint programme with the government on improving access to basic social services for Afghan refugee children and adolescents in the country. The main component of this EU-funded programme is to improve access to education for Afghan refugee children and help them integrate into formal schools as part of a partnership between UNICEF Iran Office and the Ministry of Education. According to the landmark decree of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2015, all children, regardless of their legal status, should have access to education and enrolled in schools. This has created an incredible opportunity to integrate undocumented Afghan children into formal schools and give as many children as possible the opportunity to access basic education.

”Over the past couple of years, UNICEF has been working with the Ministry of Interior’s Bureau of Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) and the Iranian Civil Society to help provide undocumented Afghan children with education, health and protection services.” said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. ”With this generous funding from ECHO, UNICEF with partners will be able to further boost support to improve the delivery of services, education in particular, to Afghan refugee children,”.

The two other components of this fund support promotion of healthy lifestyles among Afghan refugee adolescents and improving the quality of vocational training for Afghan children in judicial proceedings in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the Judiciary respectively.

For over three decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has hosted one of the largest protracted refugee populations in the world. According to national statistics provided by BAFIA, currently over 900,000 documented and an estimated 2 million undocumented Afghan refugees live in Iran.

###

For more information, please contact:

Bahareh Yeganehfar, UNICEF Iran, byeganehfar@unicef.org , +98-21-22594994

Rebekka Opfermann, UNICEF Brussels, ropfermann@unicef.org , +32 492 933 743

About European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO):

The European Union and its Member States are the world's leading donor of humanitarian aid. Relief assistance is an expression of European solidarity towards people in need all around the world. It aims to save lives, prevent and alleviate human suffering, and safeguard the integrity and human dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises. The European Commission ensures rapid and effective delivery of EU relief assistance through its two main instruments: humanitarian aid and civil protection. The Commission, through its Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), helps over 120 million victims of conflict and disasters every year. With headquarters in Brussels and a global network of field offices, ECHO provides assistance to the most vulnerable people solely on the basis of humanitarian needs. For more information, please visit http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en

About UNICEF:

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org

SC/12849

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay):

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack that took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the Wazir Akbar Khan area in Kabul on 31 May 2017, which resulted in more than 80 deaths and at least 350 injuries, almost all of them civilians, including women, children and members of the media. The members of the Security Council expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the victims, families of the slain, and to the people and the Government of Afghanistan. They wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.

The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice. They stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of Afghanistan and all other relevant authorities in this regard.

The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

For information media. Not an official record.

SG/SM/18546

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the terrorist attack in the city’s diplomatic district in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. The Secretary-General expressed his abhorrence at this act and underlined the need to reinforce the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and can never be justified. Those responsible for today’s attack must be brought to justice.

The Secretary-General expresses his deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. He reaffirms the solidarity of the United Nations with the people and the Government of Afghanistan.

For information media. Not an official record.

KABUL, Afghanistan (May 31, 2017) — After a deadly terrorist attack on innocent civilians here today, General John Nicholson, commander of Resolute Support, visited the blast site to survey the damage and support emergency responders.

Terrorists detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device near Zambaq Square, outside of the Green Zone but near diplomatic and government facilities.

“The vigilance and courage of Afghan security forces prevented the VBIED from gaining entry to the Green Zone, but the explosion caused civilian casualties in the vicinity,” Nicholson said.

Just a few hours after the deadly attack, Nicholson met with German Embassy Charge d'Affairs Dr. Ulrich Ernst, NATO Senior Civilian Representative Cornelius Zimmerman and Resolute Support Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Jurgen Weigt at the German Embassy, one of the locations most affected by the detonation.

“Once again we stand shoulder by shoulder with our Afghan partners and grieve for our losses,” expressed Weigt. “These helping hands stand for the strength of this so proud country, which will not lose ground facing this ruthless enemy.”

The attack demonstrates a complete disregard for civilians and reveals the barbaric nature of the enemy, Nicholson added. He said it also highlights the hypocrisy of an enemy who claim they only target Afghan Security Forces and foreign forces, yet continue to cause death among innocent people.

The senior enlisted leader for Resolute Support, Command Sergeant Major David M. Clark, also expressed lockstep support for the Afghan partners.

“Today many Afghans have lost their lives, and many more have been wounded. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Afghan partners,” Clark said. “The ANDSF is made of men and women with hopes and dreams, a passionate commitment to the idea of freedom, and the willingness to fight for those ideals. With courage and honor, we will prevail.”

Resolute Support and coalition forces stand together with the Afghan people, committed to seek a peaceful, stable future for this country.

Gerry Simpson
Senior Researcher and Advocate, Refugee Rights Program

Another day, another bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. Old news? Not for the families of the more than 90 people who just lost a loved one. Not for the more than 400 people who have been maimed or otherwise injured. And not for several million Afghans in their country’s capital city – school children, taxi drivers, shoppers – living in constant fear of getting blown up by the next explosion.

Yet for many government officials in Europe, today’s horrific attack on a busy commuter road on the edge of the city’s barricaded, fortress-like diplomatic area appears as same-old, same-old news. Shockingly, even Germany’s leaders, whose embassy was rocked by the massive explosion, seem unshaken.

Just hours after Germany’s foreign minister announced all of its embassy staffers were safe, the country’s interior minister confirmed that it would only briefly suspend its policy of deporting rejected Afghan asylum seekers to Kabul out of “respect for its Embassy staff.” And Germany, which has so far returned hundreds of rejected asylum seekers to Afghanistan, is not alone. Since last year, other European countries, notably Sweden, have deported hundreds of rejected asylum seekers to Kabul. None have suggested today that this is about to change.

These countries are sending back Afghans on the grounds that even though they do not come from Kabul and would likely face harm if returned to their homes in the provinces, they can be returned to Kabul because the city is safe. Yet in February this year, the United Nations released another round of gut-wrenching statistics on Afghan civilian deaths and injuries, concluding that “Kabul province had the highest number of civilian casualties [in the country] due to suicide and complex attacks in Kabul city.”

As thousands more Afghans mourn their dead and injured, European and other officials should remove their rose-tinted glasses and acknowledge that until bombs stop ripping people apart on their way to work, Kabul is no place to return anyone.

Improvement in key health indicators sets new benchmark in spite of serious insecurity

KABUL – JUNE 01, 2017 – The World Bank today announced the results of a review of progress achieved in the health sector in Afghanistan from 2002-2017. Conducted by World Bank experts and an independent group from the University of Toronto, the review found that many key health indicators had improved more rapidly in Afghanistan than in most other countries that had started at a similar level of development.

The under-5 mortality rate dropped 60 percent from 137 per 1,000 live births in 2002 to 55 in 2016. Births attended by skilled health personnel increased to 58 percent from 14.3 percent over the same period.

Announcing these results at a Presidential Summit on Health Care in Afghanistan, held today in Kabul, Dr. Timothy Evans, Senior Director for Health Nutrition and Population at the World Bank said, “The progress made in Afghanistan is impressive, especially given the serious security situation the country has faced over the last decade. Afghanistan has set a new benchmark against which to judge other countries affected by conflict, and even more so low income countries that are not facing conflict.”

These improvements are consistent with those observed in the quality of care and equity in access to services, and the large increase in the number of health facilities. The number of functioning health facilities increased five-fold over while the proportion of facilities with female staff increased from 22 percent to 87 percent. The review noted that the government’s contracting of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide health services has led to improvements in coverage and quality, even in provinces that had high levels of conflict, suggesting substantial resilience of the health care system.

Addressing the Summit after listening to the results, H.E. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, emphasized that “modality of service delivery in partnership with NGOs that has significant progress on many fronts and proved remarkably resilient in the face of operational and security-related challenges. With support from development partners, we have come a long way in improving the health conditions of millions of Afghans.” He noted the importance of communicating these results in the health sector not only within Afghan society, but also, more importantly, to a wider audience around the globe.

While progress has been significant, there remains important health challenges. The review pointed out some of the remaining challenges the country faces. The use of family planning remains low, resulting in high fertility rates that could prevent Afghanistan from achieving its economic development goals. Malnutrition remains a serious problem that is exacerbated by declining levels of exclusive breast feeding and poor infant and child feeding practices. There is some controversy about the trend and level of the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), but there is widespread agreement that it remains unacceptably high. This may reflect the fact there are still parts of the country that are underserved. The quality of services in many public hospitals has stagnated at low levels.

Dr. Evans noted, “Afghanistan faces some difficult health challenges, but this is not the time for timidity. Rather it is the time to boldly build on the successes that have been achieved and invest sufficient resources, both domestic and international, to overcome these challenges.”

• Delegates to the World Health Assembly discussed how to finish the job and address the challenges of the post-polio world last week in Geneva.

• After a polio outbreak, how do experts make sure that the virus is gone for good? Find out more about finding that needle in the haystack.

• In May, the Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulations removed Lao People’s Democratic Republic from the list of polio-infected countries after a comprehensive outbreak response.

• Summary of newly-reported viruses this week: one new environmental sample positive for wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) from Pakistan.