Women wait for free bread in front of a bakery in Kabul.
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Thu 27 January 2022:
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed the United Nations Security Council that Afghanistan is “hanging on a thread.” He asked countries to authorise all transactions necessary for humanitarian aid to be carried out.
He also argued for the suspension of any norms or restrictions on “lifesaving” relief operations. He said that millions of Afghans were starving, and that education and social services were on the verge of collapse. He claimed that a lack of cash restricted the UN’s and relief organizations’ ability to reach people in need.
“We need to give financial institutions and commercial partners legal assurance that they can work with humanitarian operators without fear of breaching sanctions,” said Guterres, noting that the 15-member council last month adopted a humanitarian exemption to U.N. sanctions tied to Afghanistan.
About $ 9.5 billion of Afghan central bank funds remain frozen abroad. International development support has dried up since Taliban seized power in the country last August.
“There is compelling evidence of an emerging environment of intimidation and a deterioration in respect for human rights. This suggests that the consolidation of government authority may be leading toward control of the population by fear,” the U.N. special envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, told the council.
In December, contributors to the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund, which is administered by the World Bank, agreed to transfer $280 million to the World Food Program and UNICEF to boost nutrition and health in Afghanistan. The remaining $1.2 billion in the fund, according to Guterres, the remaining $1.2 billion in the fund needed “to be freed up urgently to help Afghanistan’s people survive the winter.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, told the council that Washington had moved to ensure that U.S. sanctions do not impede humanitarian activity and it is examining various options to ease the liquidity crunch.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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