Afghans today face a pro-found humanitarian crisis that also threatens very basic “human rights, a United Na-tions official said on Tuesday.
UN Deputy High Commis-sioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, in a state-ment expressed her “deepest concerns” over the current humanitarian situation in Af-ghanistan.
“Economic life is largely para-lysed with the collapse of the banking system and a severe liquidity crisis. With winter having arrived, women, men, boys and girls face severe poverty and hunger, and lim-ited and deteriorating public services, particularly health care,” she said. “As more Af-ghans struggle to meet their basic needs, people in vulner-able situations – notably women-headed households and children – are being pushed to take desperate measures, including child la-bor, the marriage of children to ensure their survival, and – according to some reports – even the sale of children.”
The situation in Afghanistan, Al-Nashif said, was “com-pounded by the impact of sanctions and the freezing of state assets.”
The official said that civilian casualties are still being caused as Daesh and other armed groups launch “ruth-less” attacks.
The UN Deputy High Com-missioner for Human Rights voiced concern over the con-duct of extra-judicial killings. Between August and Novem-ber, she said “we received credible allegations of more than 100 killings of former Af-ghan national security forces and others associated with the former government.”
