Afghan President Hamid Karzai's face was wreathed with smiles today as he accepted a garland of flowers from the secretary general of the Indian Red Cross, Dr. Vimala Ramalingam. The offering symbolised the solidarity of the Red Cross and Red CrescentSocieties of the region with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) during the turbulent last quarter of a century.
A former refugee himself, Karzai also took the opportunity of a meeting with Red Cross and Red Crescent leaders from South Asia to thank the secretary general of the Pakistan Red Crescent, Dr. Fazil Moin, for the support which Pakistan continues to provide to millions of Afghan refugees.
International meetings are a rare occurrence in Kabul but the secretaries general of the Red Cross and Red Crescent from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, had no hesitation in flying in to Kabul for three days of meetings ending today followed by study visits to an impressive range of ARCS programmes.
President Karzai heard how the Red Cross Red Crescent network in the region continued to ensure that Afghan Red Crescent personnel had access to training and other support while the country was cut off from contact with the rest of the world during much of the '90s.
He was also briefed on the critical funding situation now faced by the ARCS network of 50 health clinics which bring life-saving services to two million people each year.
The clinics continued to work throughout the Taliban years and were also operational during the 2001 air strikes by American-led forces. Now, however, the US$ 10 million annual appeal launched by the International Federation for health and other programmes in Afghanistan is only 25 per cent funded, putting the health programme in jeopardy.
"We made the point that the Afghan Red Crescent is not getting adequate recognition for its work,” said Bob McKerrow, head of the International Federation’s regional delegation for South Asia. “Much of it takes place in remote parts of the country. There are 14,000 volunteers providing the only health services to about 12,000 villages. This unique network sustained much of the population during the very difficult years of the 1990s."
McKerrow said that this was the first time that regional secretaries general had gathered in Kabul. “Most of the countries in this part of the world are either dealing with conflict or moving into post-conflict situations, so we have had a lot of really good sharing of information with colleagues from the International Committee of the Red Cross in discussions on how to improve disaster and conflict preparedness at national level," he said.
"These countries are also host to millions of displaced people, so population movement is another strong area of common concern as we work towards developing a strategy for greater regional cooperation following up on the outcome of last year's Asia Pacific Conference in Manila," he added.
In addition to Drs Ramalingam and Moin, the meeting which closed today is being attended by the ARCS president and secretary general, Qrabig Izagyar, Bangladesh Red Crescent acting secretary general, ASM Akram, the director of the Nepal Red Cross halth department, Umesh Dhakal, and Sri Lanka director general, Chandra Ranwickrama.
The group will spend the rest of the week in a series of study and field visits looking at ARCS programmes.
Related links:
Afghanistan: appeals, updates and reports
South Asia regional documents
VIth Asia/Pacific Regional Conference of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
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