21 July 2009 - The United Nations in Afghanistan today called on all parties to allow aid assistance reach those most in need.

“I would like to make an appeal to certain players in the country who are blocking the delivery of the humanitarian aid,” said Robert Watkins, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in joint press conference in Kabul today.

"Humanitarian actors have come under attack, have died, and supplies have been prevented from reaching urgently needed beneficiaries. We appeal to those parties to allow humanitarian access into those areas so that all in the country can benefit from this international aid.”

The press conference given by the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Mohammad Asif Rahimi, the director of ACBAR, a NGO coordinating body, focussed on a mid-term review of a joint appeal made by the United Nations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and supported by the Afghan government in February this year.

“The purpose of this review is to look what has been achieved in six months and to identity outstanding gaps that may exist,” said Watkins.

The Afghanistan Humanitarian Action Plan outlines the humanitarian community’s plans for 2009 and has been revised at mid-year to request nearly $666 million in total.

“I am very happy to say that the response from the donor community has been excellent. We have received almost 70 per cent of the appeal,” added Watkins.

68 per cent (US$ 452 million) of the requested US$ 666 million has been pledged by donors, but 32 per cent still remain unfunded.

The deteriorating security situation poses the biggest challenge not only for the upcoming presidential and provincial councils’ elections to be held in four weeks time, but for aid organisations whose areas of operation across the country is shrinking.

"Because of he security problems in the country we are not able to access all the people that require assistance - so the issue of accessibly is top of our agenda,” said Watkins.

38 aid workers have been killed this year - an average of five people a month according to Laurent Saillard, ACBAR representative.

An estimated 7.4 million people (31 per cent of the country’s total population) are food-insecure - 5.8 million are in rural areas and 1.6 million in urban areas.

The aid component of the HAP has been almost fully funded enabling the World Food Programme to distribute food to 3.7 million needy Afghans.

The health sector is the most poorly-funded sector with current donor contributions only covering four per cent of what is needed. Other sectors which received little donor attention are agriculture, shelter, nutrition, protection, water and sanitation.

More than twenty UN agencies are operating in Afghanistan and around 600 national NGOs and 315 international NGOs are engaged in the delivery of humanitarian services.

“Out of this amount (US$ 452 million) only 4.1 per cent (US$ 20 million) has gone to NGOs,” said Saillard.

“Very little of the funds have been directed towards the NGOs ... NGOs [should] receive more financial assistance,” said Watkins noting that “they [NGOs] are the organisations which are getting out to the most isolated and places where it is difficult to reach.”

Only 23 per cent of the Afghan population have access to clean water and sanitation while the donors pledged money covers only 36 per cent of the requirement in this sector.

There are 235,000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan according the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

“Protection in a country with on-going conflict is only funded 27 per cent,” said Saillard. “I plead to the donor community to support other sectors not related to food aid,” added Saillard.

“There are needs that are still uncovered by the appeal from the donors and we are requesting them to focus on those activities in the next six months of the appeal,” said deputy Special Envoy, Watkins.

The HAP was launched on 3 February 2009 in Geneva, with an initial request of nearly US$ 604 million to support 112 project proposals from 39 NGOs and eight United Nations organisations.

This figure has now been increased to $648 million with the inclusion of new projects. At mid-year, the requirements have been increased to nearly 666 million for 146 projects.

By Homayon Khoram (UNAMA)