Afghan refugee cash ‘too little’

Date: 05/12/02

AN EU pledge to donate €17 million to 'ease' the repatriation of Afghan refugees has been branded inadequate.

Justice ministers earmarked the sum last week after deciding that 1,500 refugees should be repatriated each month from April 2003. But Ferozzudin Feroz, Afghanistan's deputy health minister, said: 'The donation is not enough to respond to the needs of the population.'

Visiting Brussels on Monday (2 December), he appealed for greater international support for health care services, especially those targeted at women and children. Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world - 1,600 out of every 100,000 women who give birth die, largely because they lack access to qualified doctors, nurses or midwives.

'There is a silent tragedy going on in our country,' Feroz said. 'The nation cannot rebuild when the health of its families is in grave danger.'

A European Commission official pointed out that the €17 million donation would be in addition to aid already earmarked for Afghanistan. Estimates of the number of Afghan refugees in Europe vary from 100,000 to 400,000.

The Commission calculates that, together with member states, it will have spent €830 million in Afghanistan by the end of 2002. It has financed 238 health clinics and 450 primary schools in the country.

An EU pledge to donate €17 million to 'ease' the repatriation of Afghan refugees has been branded inadequate.