YouSaid · the spoken record

Karokhail

lines on the record
11
first
2014-08-19
most recent
2014-08-19
sittings or episodes
1
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un-security-council

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  1. “That includes capacity- building, empowering them to provide assistance to all in need and providing adequate funding mechanisms that allow them to mitigate the risks. We can no longer maintain the status quo, where local aid workers put their lives on the line in order to get the job done. Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing me to share the Views of local organizations with the Council on this very important matter.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  2. “Despite several initiatives to discuss access - including an NGO-led effort supported by the Swiss Government, in which my organization is also involved - actual negotiations are done individually and on an ad hoc basis. There is an urgent need to develop uniform principles for transparent and open access negotiations, regardless whether the organizations are local or international. Fourthly, the Security Council must bring to account the perpetrators who commit crimes against aid workers. Afghan organizations understand that they will increasingly be asked to provide assistance where international organizations no longer can. Many stand ready to shoulder that burden. But the international community must do more to protect them and enable them to protect themselves.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  3. “First, protection and equality start with monitoring the risk, not just for international but also for local staff and aid organizations. Secondly, there is a need to remove the artificial hierarchy between international and local staff in protracted situations such as that in Afghanistan. Rather than using funds to create a bunkerization of international aid agencies, the assistance community could increase its partnership with national organizations. That, however, should not mean transferring all the risk or responsibility to local organizations. It should also improve their protection. Thirdly, access needs to be negotiated not on an ad hoc basis, but collectively. The United Nations should take the lead in that regard. The time has come to openly speak to all parties in the conflict and negotiate clear access principles.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  4. “That is especially the case when international organizations subcontract to local organizations to decrease the risk to their own international staff. The implicit message that the lives of Afghan staff are not only worth less but are also expendable is difficult to stomach. We all know that the future will hold more violence in Afghanistan. The conflict is increasingly complex, with aid workers having to deal with a patchwork of insurgents, localized armed groups and criminal gangs. International organizations and NGOs will continue to see their operating space reduced, and the burden to deliver assistance will continue to shift to Afghans. I wish to conclude by suggesting what the United Nations and the Security Council could do to improve the protection of local humanitarian workers.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  5. “Just because organizations are local does not mean that they are not vulnerable. The responsibility for humanitarian response continues to be pushed onto the vulnerable communities we seek to assist. Local humanitarian workers rarely receive the same security arrangements as their international colleagues. That inequality exploits the reliance of many Afghans on employment opportunities within the humanitarian sector, and many have been forced to accept dangerous assignments simply to feed their families. While the value of life is hard to measure, it is difficult to be told by an international funder - as my organization was in 2008 - that the possible death of our staff is not budgeted for.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  6. “The fact that offices of many aid organizations, including the United Nations, increasingly resemble military bunkers with armed guards, and that usually Afghan police are used for field escorts, adversely impacts the security of local staff and organizations for which they work. The perception of humanitarian organizations as neutral or impartial in Afghanistan has greatly diminished both for national and international organizations. That has proven very costly in terms of Afghan lives. Thirdly, the protection of Afghan humanitarian staff is a complex issue that is not adequately addressed. Afghans are expected to take greater risks than their international counterparts in most organizations, simply because their nationality is assumed to give them some protection. That is no longer the case in Afghanistan.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  7. “Furthermore, the security arrangements of international NGOs and the United Nations often make local humanitarian organizations less secure. As security measures applied to protect international staff are tightened and their mobility is restricted, the risk to national staff is increased. Local staff take on more responsibility for accessing dangerous areas while international staff remain in compounds. Communities and, by association, the insurgency have great difficulty in distinguishing among different organizations working on the ground. They associate aid organizations with the international presence of the International Security Assistance Force troops and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and View all of them as a legitimate target.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  8. “Other local organizations have confirmed similar practices. Statistics tell us only part of the story about violence against local humanitarian workers on the front line in Afghanistan. Secondly, Afghan humanitarian workers suffer heavy casualties in part because international organizations are using local staff and local organizations to reduce their own security risk. Attacks on aid workers disproportionately affect national staff. For example, 85 per cent of United Nations staff involved in security incidents are Afghans; for international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), it is 76 per cent. That signals that there are different values for local humanitarian workers in Afghanistan, especially those working for the United Nations.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  9. “Last year was the most violent year to date for humanitarian workers. Those headline figures, however, say little about who is affected. For the most part, Afghan nationals have borne the brunt of insecurity. Afghan aid workers account for 88 per cent of those killed, 89 per cent of those wounded and 89 per cent of those kidnapped. And that does not tell the whole story: many local organizations do not report attacks on their staff, thus the real numbers are likely to be much higher. For example, in 2008 four of my organization's staff were kidnapped in Paktika province, in Afghanistan's contested south- east, and another staff member was killed negotiating their release. We did not make the incident public, out of respect for the wishes of the families to keep the incident private.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  10. “At risk too are humanitarian and development workers, who stand on the front line with the vulnerable communities they assist. Afghanistan has been called the world's most dangerous place for aid workers. In this briefing, I wish to highlight four key points: the impact of Violence on Afghan aid workers, the transfer of risk to local staff from international organizations, the need to better protect local staff, and what can be done to improve the situation. First, Afghan humanitarian workers bear the brunt of violence, regardless of whom they work for. Afghanistan has seen the highest number of casualties among humanitarian workers in the world, almost four times more than neighbouring Pakistan. Since 2001, 895 aid workers have been attacked, including 325 killed, 253 wounded and 317 kidnapped.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source

  11. “Mr. Karokhail: Thank you, Mr. President, for giving me this opportunity to address the Security Council about the situation in Afghanistan, especially the impact of insecurity on local humanitarian workers - a risk they share with the vulnerable communities they assist. As the Council knows, the conflict in Afghanistan is growing more intense. The recent spike in violence - such as a car bomb in south- eastern Afghanistan that killed at least 89 civilians in July - provides little confidence that the security situation will improve any time soon. The year 2013 saw a 14 per cent increase in civilian casualties over the previous year, the highest number of civilian deaths and injuries since 2001. That presents a complex reality for Afghan civilians, as they are increasingly targeted directly or caught in the cross-fire.”

    2014-08-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7244 (2014) · source