Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) officials during the Roundtable on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, yesterday.
Doha: Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) took part in the International Missions Roundtable on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, co-held this morning by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS).
QRCS was represented by Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi, Secretary-General, and Faisal Mohamed Al Emadi, CEO. Other attendees included Shaheen Ali Al Kaabi, Director of the Department of International Cooperation at MoFA, Alexander Mattheou, IFRC Regional Director for Asia Pacific, Eloi Fillion, Head of ICRC Delegation in Afghanistan, and Mawlawi Muti-ul-Haq, Acting President of ARCS, as well as special advisors, humanitarian representatives, and ambassadors of foreign missions in Afghanistan. Al Hammadi said: “We meet again in this roundtable to resume discussions on the recent crisis in Afghanistan, and how to mobilize the international community to address its causes. Special focus is given to the difficult humanitarian situation and our role as humanitarians in easing its impact on the Afghan people”.
He added: “Since the beginning of the crisis, Qatar has spared no effort to fulfil its international and humanitarian duty towards our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, with political support from our wise leaders for the just cause of Afghans in various international forums, as well as effective humanitarian interventions to host thousands of affected people and deployment of humanitarian relief aircraft to provide the basic needs of the people of Afghanistan. This roundtable is a good example of Qatar’s great support for the Afghan people and an emphasis on their inherent right to a secure and decent life, until the country emerges from decades of disasters and conflicts and ensures security and stability for its people”.
He considered this roundtable as an opportunity to listen to the leaders of ARCS, in order to have a closer look at the very nature of the humanitarian crisis, identify the most urgent and life-saving needs, spot gaps in different sectors, and make the transition from emergency response to sustainable solutions to the existing problems.
Regarding the strong partnership with ARCS, Al Hammadi stressed that, since 2014, Afghanistan had been at the top of QRCS’s priorities of foreign work. “Over the past five years only, QRCS carried out nearly QR 30 million worth of projects and assistance there, for the benefit of about two million people across the country,” he revealed. Amid the economic challenges and pandemic risks in the world nowadays, QRCS Secretary-General called for speaking up to shed light on the Afghan crisis. He invited the world to be up to its humanitarian responsibility towards a country that has been central to, and ravaged by, international politics for almost half a century now.
