UP TO 500,000 MORE AFGHAN REFUGEES BY YEAR END, UN WARNS

Fri 27 August 2021:

The United Nations warned on Friday that up to half a million additional refugees might flee Afghanistan’s violence-torn country by the end of 2021.

According to the organization, there is currently no flood of people escaping across Afghanistan’s borders, but it is preparing contingency measures in case that changes as the country’s crisis worsens.

“The humanitarian emergency currently is inside Afghanistan,” Kelly Clements, the deputy high commissioner of the UNHCR, told reporters.

But “this is obviously a really dynamic situation,” she said, explaining that the UNHCR was planning for a variety of different scenarios, including a mass-exodus.

“We are preparing for around 500,000 new refugees in the region.

This is a worst-case scenario,” she said.

She stressed in particular the need to boost support for neighbouring countries that already host the more than 2.2 million Afghan refugees, and which could soon see the fresh influx.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan had worsened considerably even before the Taliban rose to power about two weeks ago.

Half of the population was in desperate need of assistance, and half of all children under the age of five were believed to be severely malnourished.

On Friday, the United Nations unveiled a plan for UN agencies and partner non-governmental organizations to prepare for and respond to the escalating crisis in Afghanistan and neighboring countries.

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