The people of Afghanistan need our support now more than ever. Our organizations are committed to helping and protecting them. We will stay in Afghanistan and we will deliver.
At the start of 2021, half the population of Afghanistan – including more than 4 million women and nearly 10 million children – already needed humanitarian assistance. One third of the population was facing crisis and emergency levels of acute food insecurity and more than half of all children under 5 years of age were malnourished.
In January 2021, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem assumed the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Championship on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH) taking over this role from Mr. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Amid a worsening humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence, continue to surface. This must stop.
Signatories:
The UN Resident Coordinator (RC), when called upon to lead and coordinate an emergency response, is ultimately accountable in his/her humanitarian role to the populations in need – whether designated as a Humanitarian Coordinator or not. This supplementary guide outlines actions to take at the onset of an emergency – whether it be a natural disaster, an escalation of conflict or a rapid deterioration in humanitarian conditions – and serves as a reminder of actions and events to anticipate during the response.