Afghanistan

One truck carrying humanitarian assistance from the United Nations Children’s Fund crossed into north-west Syria from Türkiye through the Bab al-Salam crossing, making it a total of 18 trucks this week delivering life-saving relief items from United Nations agencies via that crossing.

In Haiti, the World Food Programme (WFP) today said it has been forced to cut the number of people receiving emergency food assistance by 25 per cent this month due to dwindling funding levels, ending support for 100,000 of the most vulnerable Haitians. WFP urgently needs $121 million to continue vital aid through 2023.

The United Nations team in Afghanistan today released its new road map which prioritizes the needs and rights of those most vulnerable, including women and girls, children and youth, internally displaced persons, returnees, refugees, ethnic and religious minorities and focuses on essential services, among other things.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that, halfway into 2023, it has only received 20 per cent of the $54.8 billion needed to help the one in 22 people globally that require assistance. Further, unequal funding across emergencies has challenged the Office’s ability to respond to surging needs.

With women and girls facing “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, excluded from all aspects of education and public life, speakers today urged the Security Council and the international community to compel the Taliban de facto authorities to cease its despotic and inhumane measures or remain isolated from global affairs.

Over the past four weeks, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has facilitated the movement of 438 trucks carrying some 17,000 tons of aid to different parts of Sudan. Fifty of those trucks moved during the first two days of the latest ceasefire.

The World Food Programme reports that, starting next month, it will suspend assistance for over 200,000 people in Palestine — 60 per cent of its caseload — due to severe funding shortfalls. It urgently needs $51 million to continue providing life-saving food and cash aid to 350,000 Palestinians until the end of this year.

In Nigeria, where severe hunger will affect an estimated 4.3 million people in conflict-affected areas between June and August, the World Food Programme is increasing emergency food and nutrition aid and the United Nations Children’s Fund is giving therapeutic treatment to severely wasted children.

Fighting in Sudan continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians, and the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that many will die due to lack of essential services and disease outbreaks. Amidst critically low medical supplies and an increasing number of refugees, United Nations agencies are providing relief.

The 2023 edition of the online Africa Dialogue Series begins today. Titled “Market and Scale: Unlocking Industrialization through Intra-African Trade”, the series will focus on how the African Continental Free-Trade Area could accelerate sustainable development.