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Envoy: Kabul safer for children than New York
Source: Agencies |
November 23, 2010, Tuesday
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WITH few bombings and low levels of crime against children in Kabul, youngsters living in the Afghan capital are probably safer than in other cities like London or New York, NATO's top °?civilian representative in Afghanistan said on a taped television program yesterday.
Mark Sedwill made the comment to the BBC's CBBC Newsround, a daily current affairs show aimed at children, then clarified it in a statement issued by his office yesterday.
Sedwill, who is a former British ambassador to Afghanistan, said he was trying to explain to an audience of British children how uneven violence is across Afghanistan. He pointed out that half of all insurgent violence takes place in just 10 of the country's 300-plus districts, where he acknowledged "children too often are the victims of bombings and other dangers.
"But in cities like Kabul where security has improved, the total levels of violence, including criminal violence, are comparable to those which many western children would experience," Sedwill said in the clarification. He said more Afghan children are at risk from poverty, "absence of clean water, open sewers, malnutrition, disease" than from the?insurgency.
The BBC program focused on young people in war zones and quoted several young people living in Kabul who said they felt unsafe on the streets because of the risk of bombings.
Manija, an 11-year-old girl, said, "When there are explosions, I get sad because people are dying."
The number of Afghan civilians killed or injured in the war across Afghanistan soared 31 percent in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2009, according to a report by the United Nations. Children made up a rising proportion of the victims, with child casualties rising 55 percent.
Mark Sedwill made the comment to the BBC's CBBC Newsround, a daily current affairs show aimed at children, then clarified it in a statement issued by his office yesterday.
Sedwill, who is a former British ambassador to Afghanistan, said he was trying to explain to an audience of British children how uneven violence is across Afghanistan. He pointed out that half of all insurgent violence takes place in just 10 of the country's 300-plus districts, where he acknowledged "children too often are the victims of bombings and other dangers.
"But in cities like Kabul where security has improved, the total levels of violence, including criminal violence, are comparable to those which many western children would experience," Sedwill said in the clarification. He said more Afghan children are at risk from poverty, "absence of clean water, open sewers, malnutrition, disease" than from the?insurgency.
The BBC program focused on young people in war zones and quoted several young people living in Kabul who said they felt unsafe on the streets because of the risk of bombings.
Manija, an 11-year-old girl, said, "When there are explosions, I get sad because people are dying."
The number of Afghan civilians killed or injured in the war across Afghanistan soared 31 percent in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2009, according to a report by the United Nations. Children made up a rising proportion of the victims, with child casualties rising 55 percent.
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