Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ms. Joyce Msuya: Statement at the Security Council Arria Formula Meeting on Afghanistan - New York, 17 November 2022

Excellencies and distinguished delegates,

Allow me to paint you a picture of what 2023 will look like for the nearly 40 million people of Afghanistan.

Winter has already arrived in parts of Afghanistan, and for millions of people it will be a cold, bleak one. They will have little food, little fuel – and they will struggle to keep their children warm and fed.

What was an already desperate humanitarian situation across the country throughout this year will only get worse in the next. More than 28 million people – two thirds of the entire population – will need humanitarian assistance, up from 18 million people just two years ago.

Every single province in the country is impacted, rural and urban communities alike. Indeed, a vast majority of Afghanistan’s 34 major urban areas, including Kabul city, face humanitarian needs categorized as “extremely severe.” This indicates just how pervasive and indiscriminate the suffering really is.

Acute food insecurity and malnutrition will continue to climb.

A staggering 20 million people are already in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity at IPC Phase 3 or above. Nearly six million of those people are IPC Phase 4. This makes Afghanistan one of the countries with the world’s highest number of people at risk of famine.

Water will continue to be scarce, with Afghanistan entering its third consecutive drought and its already weak water infrastructure faltering even more. Amid a cholera outbreak and a malnutrition crisis, a water shortage is fatal, especially for children.

Poverty and destitution will deepen as the economic crisis worsens and people continue to lose their jobs and livelihoods. Families now spend at least 75 per cent of their income on food, leaving little left over for other essential needs, such as health care, education and emergencies.

And women, the backbone of every society, are still denied their basic rights. Today marks 425 days since teenage girls were banned from school. This is an absolute abomination.

Excellencies,

Humanitarian partners continue to deliver assistance in all 401 districts of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, reaching more than 24 million people this year. While our physical access has improved over previous years, Afghanistan remains a challenging and insecure place to work, with humanitarians operating in volatile environments, and facing threats, intimidation and risks, including physical violence and detentions.

One of the biggest hurdles for the humanitarian community is the shrinking space for Afghan female aid workers. Across the country, they face a variety of challenges impacting their ability to participate in the humanitarian response. The most significant of these is the mahram requirement – the requirement that when travelling beyond 72 km, they must be accompanied by a male relative. We are engaging with the de facto authorities at the national and sub-national levels to secure the safe and unimpeded movement of our female colleagues. Women play a crucial and unique role in humanitarian action, and without their safe, meaningful and comprehensive engagement, our ability to provide assistance and services to female beneficiaries will be compromised.

As we approach the new year, I would like to draw your attention to three critical areas.

First, we must ensure that we have the full funding we need to carry out our humanitarian work. Afghanistan’s winters are bitterly cold, and people have exhausted all their reserves. Critical winterization programming is under way, and we urgently require US$150 million, at a minimum, to secure the stocks of supplies we need, such as food and shelter materials. And next year’s humanitarian response plan will require robust support.

Second, we must recognize that humanitarian assistance alone is not enough to save lives in Afghanistan. Aid work is not a substitute for the provision of basic services. Despite the challenges, we must find ways to increase programming in Afghanistan that supports rural and urban economies and national structures of service delivery. This will require that donors release funding for these kinds of programmes, and that some technical assistance initiatives for national institutions are initiated. We welcome the work being done under the leadership of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, to develop a Strategic Framework for the years 2023 to 2025, which will focus on recovery, resilience and development.

Third, and perhaps most important, the Taliban de facto authorities must allow women to return to public life. The Taliban’s brutal exclusion of women and girls from schools, employment, recreation and political life has real humanitarian consequences that will reverberate far into the future. The de facto authorities’ recent decision to impose even more hardline measures on women and girls – effectively preventing them from even taking a stroll in the park or bringing their children to the playground – will further damage the mental and physical well-being of women and girls, and likely push Afghan families into further destitution.

The challenges confronting us in Afghanistan are profound and severe. But nevertheless, we must stay the course and stand by its people.

Thousands of dedicated staff of UN and NGO partners – both national and international – remain committed to helping Afghans in this time of great need. We must continue to expand these humanitarian interventions to the most vulnerable. But, in tandem, greater efforts must also be made to provide basic services, bolster the economy and support the restoration of people’s livelihoods.

Much has been done this year and much will need to be done in the next.

Thank you.