Despite an unprecedented scale-up in assistance in Afghanistan
over the past year, immense needs still exist and the future
looks bleak, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on
Thursday.
Following the Taliban takeover last August, UN agencies and their
partners remained in Afghanistan, providing aid
to nearly 23 million people, or nearly 94
per cent of all those who require support.
Humanitarians expanded their operations to reach communities
across all 34 provinces, and their work has saved lives and even
successfully averted a famine last winter.
A ‘tragic reality’
Allocations from two UN humanitarian funds also played a pivotal
role in preventing a collapse of the health and education sectors
by ensuring essential workers continue to be paid.
However, even with this massive response, the scale
of needs far outstrips the capacity of aid partners to meet
them, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan,
Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, said on
Thursday.
He stressed that this “tragic reality” will continue unless a
functioning economy and banking system is restored, girls are
officially able to return to school, and women and girls can
meaningfully and safely participate in all aspects of social,
political and economic life, including humanitarian work.
Multiple ‘red flags’
“History has shown us time and time again, that we
ignore the red flags of today at tomorrow’s peril,” Mr.
Alakbarov said in a statement.
“And in Afghanistan today, the red flags are both
multiple and diverse – from devastating climate
projections, to an economy which hangs in the balance, and
growing restrictions on women and girls which exclude them from
society”.
Humanitarian action has been essential in keeping the Afghan
people alive, maintaining basic services, and shoring up the
economy at a time when no alternatives have been available.
Some 7.7 million citizens, including three million women and
girls, have received healthcare support this year, which has
contributed to reduced excess maternal, neonatal and child
deaths.
Additional humanitarian assistance has been provided in the form
of emergency cash to cover needs such as food, shelter,
protection and health, and also cash for work and livelihoods
support, thus injecting much-needed liquidity into the economy.
Girls in a learning centre at the Gulab Khail Village in Maidan
Wardak Province, Afghanistan.
‘Poverty of hope’
However, OCHA warned that the
future looks increasingly bleak in the absence of concerted
efforts to address structural drivers of need and vulnerability.
Today, roughly 25 million Afghans are now living in poverty.
Furthermore, as many as 900,000 jobs may be lost this year as
businesses struggle to stay afloat, and women and girls remain
shut out of secondary school and the formal economy.
Mr. Alakbarov called for greater commitment to meeting the
life-saving needs and supporting vulnerable communities.
“People in Afghanistan have long experienced financial poverty,
but are now increasingly condemned to a life filled
with poverty of hope and aspiration. We cannot let this
happen,” he said.
