Afghanistan needs the support of the international community now more than ever to help millions of people caught up in its displacement crisis, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.
Grandi was in Afghanistan for a two-day visit with the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, to highlight the urgent need for sustainable support for the humanitarian situation, and greater efforts to address the root causes and find solutions.
The scale of the crisis is huge, both in numbers and duration. Nearly 4.2 million people in Afghanistan are in acute need of humanitarian assistance, including 1.9 million internally displaced, and more than 60,000 refugees who returned home and need help to restart their lives. Outside the country, 2.6 million registered Afghan refugees are hosted by Pakistan and Iran, along with an even larger number of undocumented Afghans and others holding Afghan passports.
“Afghanistan is at a crossroads,” said Grandi. “A combination of conflict, natural disasters and inadequate access to basic services and economic opportunities is causing continued waves of internal displacement. The country, now more than ever, needs the support of the international community, as it takes steps to pursue peace and stability, and to link humanitarian action to broader development efforts. Without a solution to displacement, there will be no lasting peace.”
In Kabul, Grandi and Lowcock met President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah as well as donors, development and humanitarian partners, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. They welcomed Afghanistan’s commitment to a strengthened model for the return and reintegration of refugees and the internally displaced – a model that also involves development actors, fosters innovation and encourages private-sector involvement. They noted that the inclusion of refugee issues as part of a larger dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan was also a positive step. They also discussed preparations for the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan, to take place in Switzerland in November this year.
Currently, 4.2 million people in Afghanistan are in acute need of humanitarian assistance due to conflict, displacement and natural disasters, including ongoing drought. An additional 8.7 million people are in need of assistance caused by abject poverty, high unemployment and loss of livelihoods due to the effects of climate change.
Original source: UNHCR
Published on 6 September 2018
