Latest news with #UNAssistanceMissioninAfghanistan
Scoop
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Unprecedented Afghan Returns Are ‘A Test Of Our Collective Humanity'
16 July 2025 Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, made the appeal during a visit to the Islam Qala border crossing with Iran on Tuesday where she witnessed the daily influx of tens of thousands of returnees. She also met returnee families, aid partners and regional de facto officials. Alarm bells should be ringing ' What should be a positive homecoming moment for families who fled conflict decades ago is instead marked by exhaustion, trauma, and profound uncertainty,' said Ms. Otunbayeva, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). 'The sheer volume of returns – many abrupt, many involuntary – should be setting off alarm bells across the global community,' she added. ' It is a test of our collective humanity. Afghanistan, already grappling with drought, and a chronic humanitarian crisis, cannot absorb this shock alone.' Local communities overstretched Since January, more than 1.3 million have been largely compelled to head back to Afghanistan - a country where 70 per cent of the population lives in poverty. Women and children face the gravest risks, UNAMA said, as they are returning not only to dire economic hardships but to a context where their access to basic services and social protections remains severely constrained. The UN has repeatedly highlighted the assault on women's rights under Taliban rule, including bans affecting higher education, employment and freedom of movement. Reintegration support critical The returns are happening at a time when humanitarian operations remain woefully underfunded, forcing agonising choices between food, shelter, and safe passage. Ms. Otunbayeva also underscored the critical need for immediate reintegration assistance as initial evidence shows that stabilising return communities requires urgent livelihood programmes and community infrastructure investments. She warned that without swift interventions, remittance losses, labour market pressures, and cyclical migration will lead to devastating consequences. These could include the further destabilization of both returnee and host populations, renewed displacement, mass onward movement, and risks to regional stability. 'We cannot afford indifference' She urged donors, development partners, and regional governments not to turn away and abandon Afghan returnees. 'What we are witnessing are the direct consequences of unmet global responsibilities,' she said. 'We must act now – with resources, with coordination, and with resolve.' Meanwhile, the UN in Afghanistan is calling for an integrated approach that resources humanitarian needs while scaling up assistance in areas of return. At the same time, regional dialogue – including with Iran, Pakistan, and Central Asian states – must be prioritized to halt disorderly returns and uphold the principle of voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation. 'Afghanistan's stability hinges on shared responsibility: We cannot afford indifference,' said Ms. Otunbayeva. 'The cost of inaction will be measured in lives lost and conflicts reignited.'
Sharjah 24
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Sharjah 24
UN warns US aid cuts threaten millions of Afghans with famine
WFP's acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world's second-largest humanitarian crisis. A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says. "With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that's only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors," Chimuka said. The agency already has been "giving a half ration to stretch the resources that we have", she added. In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people "to prevent famine, so that's already a huge number that we're really worried about", Chimuka said. Already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration -- designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person. "It's a basic package, but it's really life-saving," said Chimuka. "And we should, as a global community, be able to provide that." WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January. Emergency food aid was meant to be exempt, but this week WFP said the United States had announced it was cutting emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, amounting to "a death sentence for millions of people" if implemented. Washington quickly backtracked on the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan -- run by Taliban authorities who fought US-led troops for decades -- was not one of them. If additional funding doesn't come through, "Then there's the possibility that we may have to go to communities and tell them we're not able to support them. And how do they survive?" She highlighted the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, one of the world's poorest where thousands of Afghans are currently being repatriated from Pakistan, many without most of their belongings or homes to go to. 'Vicious cycle' The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, this week urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, saying 22.9 million needed assistance this year. "If we want to help the Afghan people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs while simultaneously laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and stability," said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, in a statement. The statement warned that lack of international aid in Afghanistan could lead to increased migration and strain on the broader region. The call for funding comes as other countries including Germany and Britain have also made large cuts to overseas aid. But the Trump administration cut has been the deepest. The United Sates was traditionally the world's largest donor, with the biggest portion in Afghanistan -- $280 million -- going to WFP last fiscal year, according to US State Department figures. But other UN agencies, as well as local and international NGOs are being squeezed or having to shut down completely, straining the network of organisations providing aid in Afghanistan. The Trump administration also ended two programmes -- one in Afghanistan -- with the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting reproductive health, the agency said Monday. And other organisations working on agriculture -- on which some 80 percent of Afghans depend to survive -- and malnutrition are impacted. "We all need to work together," said Chimuka. "And if all of us are cut at the knees... it doesn't work."
