The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has contributed an additional GBP 24 million towards UNICEF’s $2 billion Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for Afghanistan, UNICEF said in a report.

The funds will help UNICEF provide “lifesaving nutrition, water and sanitation, and child protection services to over 1.6 million people affected by the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. Around 1.3 million – 77 per cent – are children.”

“We are grateful to the United Kingdom for its continued partnership during this critical time. These funds will allow us to continue addressing the immediate needs of the most vulnerable girls, boys and women across the country,” said Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan.

The aid comes as hundreds of young children in Kabul are working.

Murtaza, 11, is working as shoe-polisher on one of the streets of Kabul.

Murtaza said that he is supporting his family of eight people, and so he is obliged to work and is deprived of an education.

“My father doesn’t work if I don’t work. There is no one else in the family to work,” he said.

“Two people in our families are working. There is no one at our family to work,” said Enayatullah, a child laborer.

Meanwhile, women’s rights activists said that the international aid must be invested in the economic self-sufficiency of women.

“How does this aid happen, how does it reach the women and children of Afghanistan. Does the government of UK send a special delegation to monitor the aid process,” said Tahira Nasiri, a women’s rights activist.

Earlier, UNICEF reported that it would reach out to 12.9 million Afghan children in 2022.