Geneva, 27 October 2021 (TDI): The UN Secretary-General warned that Afghanistan is becoming the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Guterres warned that the community is now in a race against time. That race is to deliver life-saving aid, and pre-position supplies ahead of winter. Guterres then urged the States, to act, and also fund efforts to support the most vulnerable.
First mentioned is the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report co-led by the Food and Agriculture Organization; and World Food Programme. This classification report revealed that access to food will also affect 22.8 million people.
FAO STATEMENT
FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, pronounced about the situation. Dongyu stated that it is urgent to act, to speed up, and scale up the delivery in Afghanistan. It is urgent to do so before winter cuts off a large part of the country.
The consequences of this would be that millions of people, now in vulnerable state, will suffer hunger. That vulnerable people include farmers, women, young children, and elderly. Dongyu then added that it is a matter of life, and also death, to do this. Also, Dongyu deemed as unacceptable to wait and see disasters unfold.
REPORT DATA AND WFP STATEMENT
According to the report, one in two Afghans will face phase 3 crisis; or also phase 4 emergency levels of acute food insecurity. The report stated that this would happen from November to March, and that it will require urgent international response.
Afghanistan is the country that has the largest number of people that face acute hunger. WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, warned that hunger is rising. Beasley then added that funding commitments must turn into hard cash. David also urged the International Community to address the crisis. The report then revealed that there is a surge of 37% of Afghans that face acute hunger; since the April’s assessment. 3.2 million under 5 year kids are at risk. On September, WFP and UNICEF, warned that without treatment, one million kids risked death from severe malnutrition.
Urban residents are suffering food insecurity, at similar rates to the rural communities for the first time. Unemployment is causing that the urban areas slip into phase 4, emergency level. In rural areas, the second drought in four years had catastrophic impact. That drought continues to affect the lives of 7.3 million people that depend on agriculture. Beasley then mentioned that the winter will force Afghans to choose between migration, or starvation. Another drought is threatening the country on 2022.
That has made financial assistance become vital to meet the humanitarian needs of Afghans. The problem is that UN’s Humanitarian Response Plan; remains only a third funded. The top WFP official stated that the International Community is on a countdown to catastrophe, if no action is taken, then the world will have a humanitarian disaster on its hands.
