The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has launched a new campaign seeking to raise $613 million (over €570 million) to help 5.2 million Afghan refugees and 2.7 million members of local communities across Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In addition, the UN has prepared another $4.62 billion (about 4.3 billion euros) plan to respond to the humanitarian needs of more than 23 million people in Afghanistan, which have been exacerbated following new restrictions on women’s rights, including a veto on female NGO workers, according to agency spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo.
There are some 8.2 million Afghans in the entire region, of whom more than two million are registered as refugees, especially in Iran and Pakistan, countries that UNHCR thanks for the »generous» treatment offered to these people, the vast majority of whom are women and children. The organization has estimated that 1.6 million Afghans have arrived in these territories since 2021.
Another similar plan was already launched in 2022, which ended up raising 321 of the 623 million dollars planned (about 580 million euros), and the UN is appealing to the international community for more aid and not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, one of the most serious in the world.
Millions of Afghans are looking to the international community for support and asking their country’s leaders for peace, security and opportunity. Financial aid remains critical to prevent widespread famine, disease, malnutrition and ultimately death,» Mantoo said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
