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08Jun15

1,000 civilians killed in Afghan conflict in first 4 months this year: UN

Nearly 1,000 civilians were killed in Afghan conflict during the first four months of this year, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Monday, adding that the conflict there has injured many others while forcing families to leave their homes and seek refuge in neighboring communities.

"As of 30 April, 1,989 Afghans were injured as a result of the conflict and 978 Afghan civilians killed, throughout the country," said Dujarric at a daily news briefing, quoting Mark Bowden, the UN secretary-general's deputy special representative in Afghanistan.

Doctors in Afghanistan told Bowden that they saw a 50 percent increase in the number of civilians injured this year compared to the same period last year, adding that the number of wounded at the Emergency Hospital in Kabul, the Afghan capital, illustrated the devastating impact of the conflict.

Bowden was appointed to the current post by UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon in September 2012. He is also the deputy head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

The intensifying conflict in 2015 is taxing humanitarian capacities, Bowden said. "At this period of increased need, it is particularly disturbing to note that humanitarian aid workers are increasingly becoming targets themselves."

Meanwhile, the UN envoy also called attention to the crucial role civil society plays in holding non-state actors accountable for their actions.

"It is through its engagement with the media that civil society can advocate more strongly about the conflict and the resulting humanitarian situation," he said. "The relationship between civil society, media and humanitarian action is strong."

UNAMA is mandated to support the Afghan government and relevant international and local non-governmental organizations to assist in the full implementation of the fundamental freedoms and human rights provisions of the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to which Afghanistan is a State party, in particular those regarding the full enjoyment by women of their human rights.

[Source: Xinhua, United Nations, 08Jun15]
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