Qatar urges continued int'l support for Afghan people
QNA
Geneva
Qatar called on the international community to continue mobilising financial and technical resources and to fully fund the Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan to help ensure a dignified life for the Afghan people.
This came in a statement delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar to the United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva Juhara bint Abdulaziz Al Suwaidi during her participation in the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan held as part of the 59th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
Al Suwaidi reaffirmed Qatar's steadfast commitment as an active international partner, noting that through its mediation efforts and by hosting the Special Envoys on Afghanistan meetings under the auspices of the United Nations, the State of Qatar has played a key role in fostering international consensus on critical issues. She added that Qatar continues to provide humanitarian and development assistance aimed at alleviating the ongoing suffering of the Afghan people.
She highlighted the State of Qatar's commitment to including human rights issues in its discussions with Afghan parties, particularly in supporting and promoting the participation of Afghan women in the peacebuilding process, ensuring their right to education and equal employment opportunities, as well as protecting the rights of all segments of Afghan society.
The Afghan people endured decades of conflict, natural disasters and terrorism, she added, pointing out that Afghanistan is currently facing numerous humanitarian, social, political, security, and economic challenges, which in turn affect efforts to promote and protect human rights.
Al Suwaidi stressed that addressing these challenges requires intensified efforts to rebuild Afghan institutions, ensure continued humanitarian and development assistance for the Afghan people, and maintain dialogue and engagement with all Afghan parties to reach solutions that foster greater stability and growth.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
6 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
UN nuclear chief warns of disaster if Israel hits Iran's Bushehr plant
UN nuclear chief and Security Council members urge diplomatic solution as Israel strikes at heart of Iran's nuclear capability. Rafael Grossi, chief of the United Nations's atomic watchdog, has warned that an Israeli strike on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could trigger a regional catastrophe, as the two countries continue to trade attacks for the eighth straight day. The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told the UN Security Council on Friday that a direct hit on Russian-built Bushehr, located on the the Gulf coast, could 'result in a very high release of radioactivity', with 'great consequences' beyond Iran's borders. 'I, therefore, again call for maximum restraint,' said Grossi, telling delegates at an emergency session on the Iran-Israel conflict that armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place. In a worst-case scenario, a strike on Bushehr, which contains 'thousands of kilogrammes of nuclear material', would require evacuation orders to be issued for areas within several hundred kilometres of the plant, including population centres in other Gulf countries, he said. Grossi said that a strike on the two lines that supply electricity to Bushehr could cause its reactor core to melt, with dire consequences. Authorities would have to take protective actions, administering iodine to populations and potentially restricting food supplies, with subsequent radiation monitoring covering distances of several hundred kilometres. Grossi appealed for a diplomatic solution and repeated his willingness to travel to negotiate a deal. 'The IAEA can guarantee through a watertight inspection system that nuclear weapons will not be developed in Iran,' he said. Advertisement Grossi made his comments as Iranian news portal rouydad24 reported that air defences in the city of Bushehr had been activated. No information about the target of the alleged Israeli attack was initially available. Sign up for Al Jazeera Breaking News Alert Get real-time breaking news alerts and stay up-to-date with the most important headlines from around the globe. Subscribe Your subscription failed. Please try again. Please check your email to confirm your subscription By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy protected by reCAPTCHA Israel raising 'spectre of fear' Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, claiming Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, an accusation Iran has denied, saying its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. Also speaking at the meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Iran-Israel conflict could ignite a fire that no one can control and called on all parties to 'give peace a chance'. Iran's UN ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani stressed the civilian toll of Israel's attacks on the country, at one point holding up photos of Iranian children killed in the bombings. Iravani said Israel's attacks constituted 'gross violations of international law', urging the UN to take action, warning that if the non-proliferation regime were to collapse, the Security Council would 'share responsibility with the Israeli regime'. Israeli envoy Danny Danon then accused Iravani of 'playing victim'. 'We do not apologise for defending ourselves. We do not apologise for striking Iran's nuclear facilities. We do not apologise for neutralising the threat,' he said. Reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo said that Danon had been 'trying to raise the spectre of fear and trying to get more support from other nations for Israel's actions in Iran'. Danon, he said, had claimed that Iran had the ballistic missile capability to hit Western Europe and even the east coast of the United States. Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Israeli attacks on 'Iranian peaceful civilian nuclear facilities' were 'liable to plunge us into a hitherto unseen nuclear catastrophe'. 'Israel has disregarded the assessments of the specialist international agency, having … single-handedly, decided to carry out strikes against a sovereign country with no regard for the UN Charter,' he added. A senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that any proposal for zero enrichment – not being able to enrich uranium at all – would be rejected, 'especially now under Israel's strikes'. Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster The IAEA's Grossi spoke a day after an Israeli military official walked back a military spokesperson's claim that Iran had struck Bushehr, saying the comment had been 'a mistake'. Advertisement Grossi said he could neither confirm nor deny that Bushehr, Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, had been hit. Russian nuclear energy chief Alexei Likhachev had earlier said that any attack on the plant, where hundreds of Russian specialists work, could cause a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster. Speaking via videolink, Grossi said the IAEA was not aware of any damage at Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordow. He said there had been no nuclear fallout from attacks at the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites and the Natanz enrichment site. Similarly, no radiological consequences were expected at the Khondab heavy water research reactor, under construction in Arak, which Israel also targeted.
Al Jazeera
8 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Serious' consequences if Iran's Bushehr site attacked, UN says
NewsFeed 'Serious' consequences if Iran's Bushehr site attacked, UN says The head of the UN atomic watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told the Security Council that an Israeli strike on Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant would cause a nuclear disaster. The Israeli military had said on Thursday that it had struck the facility, but later clarified that the comment had been made in error.
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel again included in UN blacklist for grave violations against children
The United Nations has kept Israel on its 'blacklist' of countries committing abuses against children in armed conflict for a second straight year, as its war on Gaza continues for nearly 20 months. The listing on Thursday came as the UN said in a new report that violence against children in conflict zones reached 'unprecedented levels' in 2024, with the highest number of violations committed in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank by the Israeli army. The annual report on Children in Armed Conflict detailed 'a staggering' 25 percent surge globally in grave violations against children below the age of 18 last year from 2023. It said it had verified 41,370 grave violations against children, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals. Among them were 8,554 grave violations against 2,959 children – 2,944 Palestinian, 15 Israeli – in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel. The figure includes confirmation of 1,259 Palestinian children killed and 941 wounded in Gaza, which has come under relentless Israeli bombardment following an attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported much higher figures, and the UN said it is currently verifying information on an additional 4,470 children killed in 2024 in the besieged territory. The UN said it has also verified the killing of 97 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, where a total of 3,688 violations were recorded. The report also called out Israel's military operations in Lebanon, where more than 500 children were killed or injured last year. UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was 'appalled by the intensity of grave violations against children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel', citing the widespread use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Guterres also reiterated his calls on Israel to abide by international law requiring special protections for children, protection for schools and hospitals, and compliance with the requirement that attacks distinguish between fighters and civilians and avoid excessive harm to innocent people. There was no immediate comment by Israel's UN mission. The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, and the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, were also included in the blacklist for a second time. Following the Palestinian territory, the countries where the UN registered the most violence against children in 2024 were the Democratic Republic of the Congo (more than 4,000 grave violations); Somalia (more than 2,500); Nigeria (nearly 2,500); and Haiti (more than 2,200). The sharpest percentage increase in the number of violations was recorded in Lebanon (545 percent), followed by Mozambique (525 percent), Haiti (490 percent), Ethiopia (235 percent), and Ukraine (105 percent), it added.
