“The motto of the entire international foundations at the service of mankind, including the United Nations, is assisting the oppressed people of the world, but now the sanctions have affected only the Iranian nation, but also those Afghans who are guests in Iran and their number has increased greatly during the past months,” Koulivand said during the meeting.
He added that the sanctions do not permit the Red Crescent Society to interact properly and receive the required credits to assist those refugees.
"During the past two years, floods, earthquakes, and also draught have put heavy responsibilities on shoulders of the relief and rescue workers, but the noticeable point is that a huge amount of our energy had also been focused on services in anti-Covid19 campaign and prevention of its grater outspread,” Koulivand added.
He stressed that although it has always been said that medicines and medical facilities are exempted from the sanctions’ list, but in practice most of the restrictions are created in those fields and the RSC of Iran managed to gain many of the required healthcare items, such as face masks, or oxygen for patients, by setting up production lines in its own subsidiary companies.
“The peak of RCS’s success and pride was importing a large amount of coronavirus vaccine; over 130 million doses of foreign vaccines, in a relatively short period of time,” he reiterated.
The UN resident coordinator in Iran, too, praised the vast-scale activities shouldered by the RCS of Iran, saying, "In European countries almost 8% of the Gross National Product (GNP) is allocated to the voluntary services, but keeping in mind the statistics presented by Dr. Koulivand that figure is probably larger in Iran."
“The number of volunteers indicates a country’s social capital. The high number of volunteers shows a society’s internal inclination to help the human beings, and it’s an important index in a society,” he added.
Priesner said that he has informed the esteemed UN secretary general about the destructive effects of sanction and his honor, too, in his second six-month report emphasized the negative effects of the anti-Iranian sanctions, including restrictions in offering humanitarian assistance.
The UN representative in Iran said that the United Nations is willing cooperated with the RSC, which is a nation-based foundation.
“We know about the precious services presented to the Afghan refugees by the RSC," he asserted.
“Last year we doubled the amount of contributions to Iran, and fortunately that increasing trend has started,” he added.
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