Geneva: Only one third of the urgent funds for Afghanistan by the United Nations has been disbursed, the head of the UN refugee said Friday, warned a potential humanitarian disaster.
Filippo Grandi urged the donor nation to respect their financial promises quickly, by saying: “Can you please support the support where it is immediately needed”.
“Promise made, so it’s a problem of channeling because we need that resource quickly,” Grandi, who visited Afghanistan after takeover of August 15 by the Taliban, told the press conference.
Mindful that winter – who is hard in the country of Mountanous and the dominant countryside – is approaching, he talks about “race against time to overcome humanitarian needs”.
“The lack of service – banking systems, economics – really risk produces a much larger humanitarian crisis,” he said.
On September 17, only more than a month after the fall of Kabul, a ministerial conference in Geneva was chaired by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, looking at donor countries promised to assistance of $ 1.2 billion.
But it was not clear how much of this number entered $ 606 million requested by the United Nations to finance humanitarian assistance for 11 million Afghans at the end of 2021.
Grandi said only 35 percent of this number had been disbursed to date.
And from 300 million requested by his organization, UNHCR, only 18 percent received.
He said UN institutions such as the World Health Organization, World Food Program and UN Children’s funds UNICEF had infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Grandi also urged the countries to continue the construction of aid for a country that, before the Taliban took power, very dependent on the assistance.
“The Taliban is not a recognized government, so how to interact for development institutions will be more complicated than humanitarian institutions but I hope that the solution is found,” he said.
“Unless it was found, I saw a larger humanitarian crisis.
I emit a massive transfer, for sure.” European Union Top Diplomat Josep Borrell temporarily urged blocks to take “between 10,000 and 20,000 more” Afghan refugees.
Borrell told a forum in Madrid that around 22,000 Afghans were in the EU after being evacuated from their country.
The European Union said on Thursday demand by Grandi to take 42,500 Afghan refugees for five years can be achieved – although every decision will lie with its member countries.