China, Russia to take lead to resolve Afghan humanitarian crises

Parliament role vital in tackling climate change

ISLAMABAD: (09 Dec 2021): - Neighboring powers like China and Russia should take lead to resolve humanitarian crises in Afghanistan otherwise the whole region can be hit due to the crisis as it is a threat to regional security.

This was the crux of a plenary session “Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan: Need for Regional & Global Responses” held on the occasion of last day of 24th Sustainable Development Conference title: Beyond the Pandemic: Leaving no one Behind, organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute here on Thursday.

Canadian High Commissioner, Wendy Gilmour, said Canada is committed to resolving humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, but it is linked to the type of government to be set up there.

Canada, she said, is working with the de-facto administration in the country to ensure that they live up to the commitments they had made to the international community earlier.

Chris Kaye, Country Director, World Food Program, said 8.7 million people are one step away from a catastrophe, i.e., famine, one million children are at risk of death from malnutrition, and only 4.3 million could have received one dose of COVID vaccine. People are selling their children, while more and more people are selling their household goods, he mentioned.

Melinda Good from World Bank said even before the fall of the government, Afghanistan was facing acute economic crisis. A lot of work needs to be done on essential, basic and lifesaving services for humanitarian support.

Former Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi said innovative measures should be taken to eradicate poverty and food insecurity from Afghanistan. Above all, their value system must be respected by the world, she added.

Haroon Sharif, ex-chairperson of Board of Investment said the crisis had started when the US decided to leave from Bagram airbase. He said there is an absolute absence of a financial system, so it is a health crisis, food crisis, and trust deficit because of the delivery system failure. He said the BISP cash transfer program can be extended to Afghanistan.

At a session on COP 26 & the Way Ahead-Role of Parliaments in Climate Politics & Implementation of the Paris Agreement, Member Parliamentary Committee on Climate, Senator Faisal Javed said that our contribution to pollution is only 1% but we are on top of climate victims. He went on to say that Pakistan so far has planted 1.5 billion trees out of the 10 billion target, aimed at achieving global goals while the government also plan to inject 60% renewables into energy mix till 2030.

MNA Riaz Fatyana said that IPU and EU must play their role to establish cooperation and sit together to take practical steps to solve the climate issue.

PML-N Leader, Ms. Romina Khurshid said the European Parliament can play vital role to tackle climate crisis.

Member Conservative Party of Germany, Prof. Siegfried said that we have to substitute the fossil reserves with clean hydrogen technology. He said Pakistan also needs to think about hydrogen source which can then be transported to Germany and other Europe countries.

Member European Parliament, Mr. Par Holmgren stressed that the major responsibility of GHGs emissions mainly lies on Sweden, Germany and other European countries and they also need to scrutinize their policies.

Member Green Party Germany, Ms. Kathrin Henneberger in response to a question said that Germany is a country which is responsible for the climate, adding, we are looking forward for effective partnerships with countries globally on the issue of climate justice.

Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan, Thomas Seiler said that here is a serious need to engage with heavy industry to follow the policies and political requirements with respect to the Paris Agreement.

Member EU Parliament, Sweden, Ms. Jytte Guteland said we need to help each other to boost the climate finance needed to support this transition.

Representative GIZ, Hartmut in his technical presentation said that the objective of the COP26 was to limit the global warming to 1.5 and for this developed countries need to strategize funds to support the developing economies.

At a session on “The Urgency of placing Young people at the Center of Pakistan’s Post-Covid Development Agenda”, Danyal Ahmed, Communications and Media Strategists, PPAF, highlighted that Covid impacts on the life youth and said it really put them in stress.

Miss Mehr Shah said Pakistani population comprises 56 million youth, therefore, one goal of the SDG is to include Youth in leadership & policy making

Dr. Zunaira said their project “merafuture.pk” helps youth for carrier counselling as it is a major issue in Pakistan. Mr. Dawar Hameed Butt revealed that youth is more concerned about climate change, saying economic development causes environmental degradation and climate emergency needs to be imposed to protect the environment.

Speaking at a session on Women’s Vulnerability in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from South Asia Dr Ayesha Nazuk said during COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerability of women has increased due to increased domestic violence and divorce rates. She added that 63% women

reported that COVID-19 had great impacts on the income which inflicted further issues for vulnerable sectors of the society.

Dr Shaheen Ashraf, the World Food Organization, is running many financial aid programmes to help women, transgenders, disabled persons, and displaced families.

Dr. Shahla Tabassum said during the lockdown, there was a rise in number of widows and divorced women who mentioned that they face economic, health and social vulnerability in their new social setup.

Mr. Mohsin Kazmi said that in order to increase financial literacy among women, the government needs to provide facilities to new business startups, and private sector in particular should work for the formal education of women.

Earlier, speaking at a session on Gender Inclusive Development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Sherry Rehman said 1.4 women die during childbirth every hour. Population growth in Pakistan is increasing at a 2.5% rate, which shows that the country definitely needs a law to stop early marriages. In Sindh, 3 out of 5 women experience violence at home and the violence record has increased by 200% since early 2020. She emphasized the need to control environmental pollution by controlling industrial and transport emissions by converting. She said: “transformational change comes from governments in coordination with the opposition” and that most religious extremism and honor killings can be resolved by making a unanimous decision behind closed doors.

Dr Abid Suleri said women constitute 51% of our population, so leaving them behind means slowing down the development process.

At a session on ‘Crisis is an Opportunity to Learn’ speakers stressed that for functional public policy, policymakers and stakeholders must learn and perfect insight into governance approaches, evidence integration, knowledge management and data mining.

Dr. Ishrat Husain, former advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity highlighted the need of aggregating evidence into research and policy design. He said the culture of informed public policy-making in Pakistan has just taken birth.

Dr. Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Director, Centre for International Development and the Sumitomo-(FASID) said that the real problem is not gathering or collecting data, rather it is processing and applying that data.

Mr. Maroof A. Syed, CEO, Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) emphasized the retention of learning and applying that in real time.

Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director, SDPI added the skill-sets of the younger generation must be polished for visionary changes in Pakistan.

Mr. Naveed Aziz, Advisor, FCDO, threw light on the evident difference between data and evidence.