(The Frontier Post) – Security forces have occupied 20 school buildings and are using them as security posts in different areas of Helmand, the education director has said. Talking to Afghan media outlet, Helmand education director Daud Shah Safari termed it a great injustice with children to convert their schools into security posts. Link
Read more
(NRC) – Eleven students were injured when an attacker detonated explosives in a classroom in Kabul on Sunday. “As inhumane as this cowardly attack is, we continue to see similar attacks on schools. Afghanistan’s children are becoming innocent victims of the escalating conflict,” said NRC’s country director in Afghanistan, Christopher Nyamandi. The explosion occurred on the […]
(Al Jazeera) – One million children die on the day they are born every year, with another 1.6 million unable to survive past the first month, the UN’s children’s agency said in a new report. Newborns in Pakistan, Central African Republic (CAR) and Afghanistan have the least chance of survival, according to the UNICEF report launched on Tuesday. Link
(NRC) – Here are seven reasons why we should increase our humanitarian efforts and rethink policies aimed at returning refugees back to Afghanistan, where the situation has gone from bad to worse. The situation in Afghanistan has gone from bad to worse, according to a recent report by the NRC. Link
(Save the Children) – In response to the attack on Save the Children’s office in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Dr. Jill Biden, Save the Children U.S. Board Chair, on behalf of its Board of Directors today issued the following statement: “Our hearts are broken, and our prayers are with the victims, our beloved colleagues, and their families.” Link
(Action on Armed Violence) – Yesterday, January 16th 2018, a mortar attack on a local bazaar in Faryab province, Afghanistan, killed at least 5 and wounded a further 45. As many of the injured were in a critical condition, the death toll may rise. The wounded included women and children. Link
(UNHCR) – On 12 December 2017, over 200 Afghan refugee children from schools across Tehran province participated in a fun-filled day of activities which focused on refugee child protection, in an effort foster childhood development and self-confidence through learning and play. With the support of UNHCR Field Office Tehran, Provincial Bureau of Aliens and Foreign Immigrants’ […]
(CNN) – ISIS has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a Shia cultural center in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, that left 41 people dead and dozens injured. Two children were among the dead and 84 people were injured in the blast, according to a Health Ministry spokesman. Link
(Theirworld) – Children always need protection – but never more so than during a conflict. Some are orphaned, many abandoned, most are frightened and in distress. They may be displaced, hungry, cold and left to survive on their own – which means they are at risk of violence, exploitation, disease or recruitment by armed groups. Link
(The Star) – Afghanistan has adopted new rules meant to better protect children from violence in the troubled country — including abuse by its own security forces. Tariq Shah Bahrami, the country’s minister of defence, signed the Child Protection Policy into force in early December, a move one child advocate hailed as “highly significant.” Link
