MONITORING (SW) – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi has urged the international community to help Afghan refugees and displaced communities in the neighboring countries.
A day earlier, a total of 41 donor countries pledged more than $2.44 billion towards the United Nations $4.4 billion appeal for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, the world body said on Thursday, as international concerns grew over the Taliban denying girls a secondary education.
Belgium’s minister of development cooperation Meryame Kitir said: “Education empowers women and girls and that’s what the Taliban are afraid of”. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the high-level conference urging donors to provide unconditional funding, saying that 9 million Afghans faced famine and that families were selling children and organs to survive.
The humanitarian situation has “deteriorated alarmingly” since the Taliban takeover in August and the economy has all but collapsed, he said.
“Some 95 percent of people do not have enough to eat. Nine million people are at risk of famine. UNICEF estimates that a million severely malnourished children are on the verge of death, without immediate action,” he said.
Guterres called for the reopening of schools for all students in Afghanistan without discrimination.
Britain, the European Union and the United States pledged funds, but along with Turkey and others voiced concerns about growing restrictions imposed by the hardline Islamist rulers, reported Reuters.
