The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a tweet on May 23 has warned that nearly 20.3 million people are in dire need of protection assistance and humanitarian services in Afghanistan in 2023.
These vulnerable people will need assistance in the areas of child protection, gender-based violence, mine action, and general protection, the tweet notes.
OCHA Afghanistan has indicated that USD 170 million is required to respond to their protection needs this year.
Earlier, OCHA called the Afghanistan crisis the biggest and most serious “humanitarian crisis” in the world and said that out of the USD 4.6 billion requested by this organization, only 5% of these requests have been provided in Afghanistan in 2023.
This comes amid the ongoing international meeting on the Protection of Civilians (PoC) that is taking place at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from 22 to 25 May to give a voice to people affected by armed conflicts, including Afghanistan.
According to OCHA, the week’s events will bring together Member States, UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and civil society organizations to discuss key PoC issues and trends, share best practices, and reflect on required policy and normative changes.
In another tweet on Monday, OCHA Afghanistan said that more than 700 children were killed and injured as a result of landmines, explosive remnants of war, and improvised explosive devices in 2022. This is an average of two children every day.
