New Democrats have once again asked the Canadian government to lift restrictions on Canadians providing aid in Afghanistan.
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee has adopted a motion from Heather McPherson.
The motion urged the government to immediately amend sections of the Criminal Code currently preventing Canadian humanitarian organisations from delivering aid in Afghanistan.
McPherson said in a statement: “While other countries have already created humanitarian carve-outs to allow their agencies to operate in Afghanistan, Canada hasn’t.”
She added: “This means millions of Afghans in desperate need of assistance are not being reached. We have called on the Liberals to fix this many times but, 18 months later, aid agencies are still waiting.”
Amid soaring food prices, insecurity and lack of access to basic services, Afghanistan is currently in acute humanitarian crisis.
“There’s no excuse for this delay,” said McPherson. “The Liberal government needs to table legislation to fix the Criminal Code now, so we can get aid to Afghans immediately…”
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