アフガン退避で親とはぐれた２００人の子ども、カタールの施設で不安の日々

【ドーハＡＦＰ＝時事】カタールの首都ドーハにある収容施設ではここ数週間、イスラム主義組織タリバンが政権を掌握したアフガニスタンから飛行機で国外退避し、親と離れ離れになってしまった子どもら約２００人が不安を抱きながら生活している。「私たち、これからどこに行くの？」と子どもたちは何度も尋ねる。（写真は資料写真）
　現在、難民の子どもたちの世話をしているのは、人道支援団体「カタール・チャリティー」だ。好奇のまなざしにさらされたり、人身売買業者の手に渡ったりしないよう、子どもたちを保護している。
　「皆、ショック状態にあり、心の傷を抱えている」と支援活動をしている職員は話す。
　子どもを含む多くのアフガン人が国外に退避したが、中にはあまりに突然の脱出だったため当時の状況を思い出せない人や、どうやってカタールに来たのかについて、つじつまの合わない説明をする人もいる。
　国連児童基金（ユニセフ）によると、親と離れてカタールやドイツなどに避難したアフガン人の子どもは８月１４日以降、約３００人に上っている。
　カブールの空港ゲートにいたフランスの警察官は、１人の女性が「必死になって自分の赤ちゃんを鉄条網の内側にいたフランスの特殊部隊に託し、受け取った隊員が赤ちゃんを米軍の医療関係者に渡す」のを目にしたと話している。
　「その赤ちゃんは治療を受け、ドーハに避難した。とても小さい赤ちゃんだった。母親は、人混みにまぎれて見えなくなった」
　カタール・チャリティーをはじめとする団体は現在、主に８～１７歳の子どもの面倒を見ている。
　施設の雰囲気はアットホームだが、子どもたちは今も不安を抱いている。
　カタール・チャリティーの国際協力部門の責任者を務めるファティマザフラ・バッカリ氏は、施設を出て行く時はいずれ来ると子どもたちには伝えているが、「それがいつになるか、私たちにも分からない」と話す。
　ユニセフのヘンリエッタ・フォア事務局長は「親と引き離された子どもたちは、世界で最も弱い立場にある」と述べ、「家族を捜し出して再会させるまでの間、子どもたちの身元を直ちに突き止め、安全を確保することが重要だ」と強調した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/14-10:59）

The daily life of unaccompanied Afghan refugee children in Qatar is punctuated by recurring questions, where are we going? and can I have some chips.
About 200 uprooted young Afghans arrived in Doha aboard flights from Kabul in recent weeks and are being hosted at a reception centre, where they grapple with the trauma of their ordeal.
They are now being cared for by Qatar Charity, a humanitarian organisation that has sought to protect and keep them out of the reach of people traffickers.
Officials are picking a path for the future of the children who have adopted new routines, playing football, exercising and enjoying arts and crafts.
It's very hard to imagine the trauma that they've been through, said an aid worker based in the Middle East who declined to be named.
All of them are in a state of shock and trauma, similar to what we've seen in places like Iraq or Syria with kids who have lived in (Islamic State group) areas.
The Taliban's shock takeover rekindled fears among Afghanistan's people of a return to the hardline rule between 1996 and 2001 which was marked by public executions, floggings and amputations for misdemeanours.
Many fled, including the youngsters, some of whom cannot recall the circumstances of their abrupt departure from their homeland, while others give contradictory accounts of how they came to be in Qatar.
According to the UN children's agency UNICEF, around 300 unaccompanied children were evacuated from Afghanistan to Qatar, Germany and other countries after August 14.
- Desperate scramble -
Questions are swirling about how they came to be at Kabul's airport and then embark on planes bound for Qatar, and drastically different lives, but answers are in short supply.
The US Embassy in Doha did not comment on the specifics of the children's case.
A French police officer who was present at the Kabul airport gates described seeing a woman desperately throw her baby into the barbed wire towards the French special forces who recovered and handed the child to American medics.
The baby was treated and evacuated to Doha. He was really tiny. His mother just disappeared into the crowd, he added.
The officer witnessed other dramatic scenes.
One man arrived at the gate with three young children who he passed off as his own. They were orphans, he probably used them to get the gate open, but they were also evacuated.
Stories like that highlight the chaos. They'll be part of the history of this fiasco.
Qatar Charity and other agencies are now taking care of the group who are mostly aged between eight and 17 years old, with the youngest housed at a separate facility.
In Doha, children were settled at accommodations, to which AFP was not granted access, and grouped by age or family group if they arrived together.
As far as possible they were also grouped according to the friendships and bonds forged during their respective journeys.
- 'Safe community' -
They can get attached to other children very quickly. They feel things stronger than anyone, Fatima-Zahra Bakkari, a Moroccan working for Qatar Charity.
She singled out two children aged 12 and 13 who had become inseparable in just over a week.
When the older child learnt that they were soon to move on, he offered to move out of the younger child's bedroom so they could prepare for possibly never seeing one another again.
We all cry a lot, Bakkari said about the aid workers. We laugh a lot too, she added recounting the occasional child waking up to steal a packet of crisps.
Despite their homely surroundings, the youngsters still face uncertainty.
We tell them the time will come, we don't know when but it will come, for them to move on, said Bakkari.
Children separated from their parents are among the most vulnerable children in the world, according to Henrietta Fore, head of UNICEF.
It is vital that they are quickly identified and kept safe during family tracing and reunification processes.
Qatar has provided shelter, physical and psychological care, food and emotional attention.
Then comes the delicate part, said the humanitarian official who requested anonymity.
The-best case scenario is we manage to find first-degree relatives, a grandmother, an aunt, an uncle. But in many cases we might not be able to do that.
Qatar Charity has set up a hotline for the children to call their relatives, but for those with no one to call their carers will need to ensure they are looked after in the long-term.
Then eventually the child can integrate in a safe community so they are equipped with the things they need to become a normal adult, the aid worker added.