A drama within a drama.
Many children were separated from their families in the chaos surrounding the Taliban seizure of power in Afghanistan in mid-August and hundreds of them were evacuated from the country unaccompanied, the UN said on Tuesday. .
Unicef, the United Nations children's agency, and its partners have counted around 300 unaccompanied children evacuated from the country since August 14 as tens of thousands of people flocked to Kabul airport to try to leave the country before the total withdrawal of American forces.
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"We expect that number to increase, due to ongoing identification efforts," Henrietta Fore, director general of Unicef, said in a statement, expressing concern for their well-being and safety.
In the days leading up to its withdrawal, the United States airlifted more than 123,000 people from Kabul airport, including U.S. citizens, interpreters, and others who were eligible for special visas for immigrate.
Some of the separated children were evacuated by flights to Germany, Qatar and other countries, UNICEF said.
Facilitate the reunification of children with their families
"I can only imagine how scared these children must have been to suddenly find themselves without their families, as the crisis unfolded at the airport or they were taken on an evacuation flight," said Henrietta Fore.
Separated children are "among the most vulnerable children in the world," she said.
"It is vital that they are quickly identified and kept safe during the family tracing and reunification process," she added, adding that "all parties must put the best interests of the family first. child and protect children from abuse, neglect and violence.
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Afghanistan: images of the ambient chaos near the Kabul airport
UNICEF is currently providing technical support to governments hosting evacuated children and helping to identify unaccompanied ones to reunite and reunite their families.
Children should preferably be placed with extended family members or in a family setting, while institutionalization should be a last resort and only temporary, Unicef advocates.
With this in mind, Henrietta Fore urged all countries where these unaccompanied children may have family members to "facilitate reunification and safe and legal migration routes, if it is in the best interests of the child" .
Children traveling with trusted adults should also, in most cases, be allowed to stay with them, she added.
