Delivering for Afghanistan’s children
UNICEF is continuing to work with partners to support children and their families across the country.
Afghanistan was already one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a child. Over the past year, the situation has become even more desperate as crippling poverty and hunger, violence, drought, and COVID-19 have collided to create an humanitarian emergency.
Rising malnutrition, an unprecedented food crisis, drought, disruptions to vital health and nutrition centres, and poor access to water and sanitation services have left more than half of the population in need of assistance. Millions of children – girls especially – risk being permanently shut out of education.
UNICEF has been on the ground in Afghanistan for over 70 years with offices nationwide and a range of partners that support us in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable, especially children. UNICEF is now scaling up its lifesaving programmes for children and women – including through the delivery of health, nutrition and safe water to displaced families.
What’s happening in Afghanistan?
The degree of suffering in Afghanistan is nearly unprecedented. With the economy, education systems and social services on the brink of collapse and poverty rates soaring, families are facing further turmoil in a country that has experienced four decades of prolonged conflict, recurrent natural disasters, chronic poverty, and disease outbreaks.
Millions of children continue to need essential services, including primary healthcare, lifesaving vaccines against polio and measles, nutrition, education, protection, shelter, water and sanitation. UNICEF therefore requires urgent funding to ensure the country’s health systems don’t collapse.
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How is UNICEF responding?
UNICEF is committed to continuing its work for children and families across Afghanistan. To reach the hardest-to-reach children, UNICEF is advocating with all parties to ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access, in line with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.
UNICEF is supporting emergency water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) services, including the provision of safe water through water trucking, construction and repair of hand pumps, along with the provision of supplies and hygiene promotion.
UNICEF is supporting primary healthcare facilities providing basic health services. In May 2022, more than three million people received out-patient consultations, including one million children under-five and more than 140,000 persons with disabilities. In addition, mobile health and nutrition teams have been deployed, extending services of these teams to all 34 provinces, operating in the most remote and hard-to-reach mountains that were previously inaccessible.
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, access to education was a challenge, with cultural practices, displacement, inaccessibility and lack of facilities keeping 4.2 million children out of school, girls especially, and denied the skills they need to build dignified, prosperous futures. But the de facto authorities’ decision in March to delay the return to school for girls from Grade 7 to Grade 12 was a major setback for girls and their futures. Meanwhile, millions more children are at risk of dropping out of schools as teachers sometimes go unpaid and the education system verges on collapse. Prolonged school closures and absences often result in children, particularly girls, not returning to complete their education – with lasting impacts on children. These impacts, combined with the socioeconomic crisis, have nearly obliterated coping mechanisms.
UNICEF continues to advocate for the full reopening of secondary schools for girls. In May 2022, 230,000 children were provided educational opportunities through almost 10,000 community-based education classes supported by UNICEF and partners.
Too many of Afghanistan’s children have witnessed scenes that no child should ever see. Children and adolescents are struggling with anxieties and fears, with many in desperate need of mental health support. UNICEF has therefore scaled up its child protection response by providing immediate and life-saving services to children affected by conflict and displacement, including providing child-friendly spaces and psychosocial support to children and their caregivers or parents.
What is UNICEF calling for?
Over the past year, the situation for Afghanistan’s children has become even more desperate. Crippling poverty and hunger, violence, drought and COVID-19 have collided to create an unprecedented humanitarian emergency. UNICEF is calling for these five important steps:
Ensure assistance can reach children and their communities in need. To ensure an entire generation of children in Afghanistan is not lost, it is vital we remain equipped to do this work. UNICEF is present throughout Afghanistan and must be able to reach children in need through continued donor funding without any conditionalities and with assurances of complete safety for its staff and the children we serve.
Ensure all children, especially girls, have access to a quality education. In recent years, significant strides have been made on increasing girls’ access to education. It is vital that gains in education are preserved, and that all children in Afghanistan receive a quality education.
Preserve the rights of women, girls. UNICEF will continue to advocate for the full realization of women and girl’s rights and for their physical, mental health and psychosocial well-being. Important gains made on gender equality must be preserved. And more must be done to guarantee that women and girls can meaningfully participate in Afghan society
End grave violations against children. Children continue to face grave rights violations including attacks on education. Grave violations against children must cease. UNICEF is also deeply concerned about a rise in other protection risks facing children, especially as families become increasingly destitute. Child rights must be protected, and children must not pay for this violence, insecurity and economic collapse with their childhood.
In line with the UN Secretary General’s message, all countries should be willing to receive Afghan refugees; refrain from deportations; and ensure children and families forced to flee have access to essential services. Civilians must be allowed to seek safety and protection, including seeking asylum. Now is the time for solidarity and support.
How you can help
US$2 billion is urgently needed to meet the humanitarian needs of 15.3 million people in Afghanistan.
