The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, today opened the international conference on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, warning that the country is facing its “most dangerous hours” and how, to overcome them, it needs international aid. “It is time for the world to stand by the Afghans,” said Guterres, adding that, even before the Taliban took over power again, the country was already experiencing “one of the worst global humanitarian crises”.
The conference aims to raise $ 600 million from the international community to use to help the civilian population. “Right now,” Guterres recalled, “one in three Afghans don’t know when their next meal will be.” The lack of food has dramatically increased since the Taliban took power last year. “I cannot give figures on the specific amount, but taking into consideration the appeal, the support for neighboring countries and other programs, we have heard promises for about a billion dollars,” said the secretary general of the United Nations.
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But the country will need far more funds to avoid the food crisis and the collapse of public services. According to the director of Unicef, Henrietta H.Fore, at least 10 million children depend on this aid to survive and “one million will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year”. Some 600,000 people have been displaced by the conflict this year, more than half of them are minors.
In addition, UNICEF “is receiving informal news about the recruitment of children from the warring parties and we are concerned that children may be exposed to greater risks of serious violations of their rights. Without urgent action, the dire situation facing the children of the Afghanistan is likely to get worse in the coming months due to severe drought and water shortages, concerns about funding to provide continuity to basic services, the onset of winter and the aftermath of the pandemic. “
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Fore called on the international community to increase support for UN humanitarian agencies and their partners in order to continue and expand key programs for children and families in need.
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