KABUL - At an event organized by the humanitarian community in Afghanistan to mark World Humanitarian Day, over 50 donors, government, NGO and media representatives gathered to listen to speeches highlighing the growing importance of humanitarian need in Afghanistan and paying tribute to thousands of humanitarian workers across the country.

Humanitarian organizations in Afghanistan have brought critical and life-saving support to millions of affected people in a country besieged by conflict and natural disasters. Despite such efforts, meeting humanitarian needs still poses a huge challenge for the humanitarian community.

The ongoing complex humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is attributed to over ten years of conflict and recurrent natural disasters. Today, over a million families are facing drought-induced food and water scarcity and in dire need of food. Water shortage has already reached critical levels in many parts of the country and many Afghan families are being forced to sell livestock and assets to meet their needs.

The humanitarian community is concerned that humanitarian indicators continue to tell an increasingly worrying story about the level of need across the country – large swathes of which remain affected by conflict and beyond the reach of many humanitarian organisations.

Addressing the audience, P. V. Krishnan, Country Director of ActionAid International, said: “the life of ordinary Afghans, particularly that of women and children, has hardly improved since 2001, despite vast investments made by international community. NGOs in Afghanistan are today reflecting on growing levels of humanitarian need across the country, alarmed that ordinary people are being caught up in the escalating armed conflict and violence, with limited access to much needed humanitarian assistance. With international attention so often focused on military operations, the needs of the ordinary Afghans affected by the conflict have gone unnoticed.”
UNICEF Country Representative Peter Crowley said on behalf of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan: “The humanitarian community wishes to use World Humanitarian Day to pay tribute to the selfless commitment of humanitarian workers in Afghanistan who, despite the inherent risks and monumental challenges, do their utmost to provide protection and assistance to Afghans in need. Humanitarian workers are subject to harassment, intimidation and kidnapping, and some are even killed. Yet humanitarians continue to devote enormous effort to saving lives and defending human dignity”

ENDS

Notes:
The UN General Assembly has designated 19 August as World Humanitarian Day with the objective of raising public awareness of humanitarian assistance worldwide and the people who risk their lives in order to provide it. More information can be found here: http://www.un.org/en/events/humanitarianday/
In Afghanistan, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) and UNOCHA are marking World Humanitarian Day with a one hour event at the ACBAR meeting hall on Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 8.30 AM.
For more information contact Ms. Kamini Paul, Advocacy and Communication Manager: advocacy.manager@acbar.org / 0702172176 or Mr. Christophe Verhellen, OCHA Public Information Officer: verhellen@un.org / 0793001132

References for Media:
Number of reported number of confirmed IDPs as of 31 June 2011 by UNHCR and Government of Afghanistan - not accounting for those populations in urban settings or inaccessible areas for humanitarian actors. 437,810 individuals are estimated to be displaced as of June 2011, with an additional 7,383 individuals newly displaced as a result of the armed conflict during the month of June.

Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan 2011: http://www.unocha.org/afghanistan
Contact details: Jessica Bowers, OCHA, 0793001113