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UN Blames Pakistan For Blockage Of Aid To Afghan Refugees

In a statement released by the United Nations, “Pakistan has reneged on an agreement reached last month with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to allow adequate UN relief supplies to be delivered to the 70,000 Afghan refugees in the Jalozai refugee camp.” One of the most desperate camps for Afghan refugees is located in the Pakistan city of Jalozai. Repeatedly Pakistani government officials have refused to grant access to United Nations aid workers and other humanitarian observers into the camp.

As time passes, the situation for Afghan refugees living in the Jalozai camp grows more severe. Inclement weather, including heavy rains, has destroyed 60 latrines and some 3,150 refugee tents, 18,000 refugees out the total 70,000 population now face death, and the UN has declared that “children are dying unnecessarily” all within the Jalozai refugee camp. Due to Pakistan’s refusal to allow vital humanitarian aid to reach Jalozai, aid groups are only able to provide less than half the amount of clean water needed per person daily making “sunstroke, skin diseases and waterborne diseases inevitable by the end of May.”

Sources:

UN Wire - April 5, 2001, Feminist Majority FoundationÕs Campaign To Stop Gender Apartheid In Afghanistan

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