OTTAWA– Today marks six months since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan which launched the country into the worst humanitarian crisis in decades. Since Canada pulled out of Afghanistan the situation has become desperate. Children are facing starvation and over 18 million Afghans are in need of emergency aid right now. The NDP’s critic for immigration, Jenny Kwan, and the critic for foreign affairs, Heather McPherson, are calling on the Liberal government to change its insufficient and unnecessarily bureaucratic response and immediately begin helping those people who are suffering.
“This past summer Canadians were horrified by the violence the Taliban used against people in Afghanistan. Six months later and the conditions for people there are certainly not improving,” said Kwan. “The Canadian government has a responsibility to people in Afghanistan and the Liberals must do everything in their power to help as many people as possible.”
The Criminal Code currently prohibits any individual from delivering goods or financial assistance that will benefit a terrorist organization like the Taliban, making it very difficult for humanitarian organizations from Canada to help Afghans trying to feed their families due to their fear of prosecution. Canadian humanitarian organizations have repeatedly asked the Liberal government to provide an exemption, as other countries have, that would allow them to deliver the aid that Afghans desperately need. The Liberal government has failed to respond to this call appropriately, leaving millions of Afghans, including children, on the brink of starvation and vulnerable to an escalating humanitarian crisis.
