UN relief chief warns of devasting impact of aid cuts
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator has strongly criticized sweeping funding cuts to humanitarian operations globally, warning they won’t be reversed anytime soon as they “directly result in deaths.”
Tom Fletcher spoke to UN News on Thursday from Afghanistan, where he has been meeting with UN humanitarian teams, aid partners and officials from the de facto Taliban authorities over the past week.
The relief chief also met with local NGOs who have been forced to lay off half their staff.
He said that policymakers who signed off on aid cuts should come to Afghanistan to see the effect they are having on the population.
Of course, there was a bit of a time lag after the aid cuts before you really see the impact. You know, lots of programmes are still running – and running down. But here, 400 clinics closed in the last few weeks. You know that has a real-world impact, and you can sit there and talk to people who aren’t going to get the medical support that they need because of those closures. So, it’s become much more real for me on this trip.
You can read and listen to the full interview on our website: news.un.org
Israel urged to allow lifesaving aid into Gaza
The UN relief chief also issued a statement on Gaza, where no humanitarian assistance has entered for two months.
Mr. Fletcher said blocking aid starves civilians, leaves them without basic medical support, strips them of dignity and hope, and inflicts a cruel collective punishment.
“Blocking aid kills,” he added.
The head of aid coordination office OCHA noted that Israel took a deliberate decision two months ago to block all aid to Gaza, which had halted all humanitarian efforts to save survivors of its military offensive, and that officials said the policy is to pressure Hamas.
He stated that “yes, the hostages must be released now” and that “they should never have been taken from their families.”
But he stressed that international law is unequivocal.
“As the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in,” said Mr. Fletcher, adding “aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip.”
Sudan: UN rights chief fears more bloodshed in El Fasher
More than 500 civilians have been killed in North Darfur, Sudan, over the past three weeks as paramilitary forces seek to control the besieged regional capital El Fasher, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday.
“The horror unfolding in Sudan knows no bounds,” Volker Türk said in a statement on the ongoing war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and former ally the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
He noted that three days ago, the RSF launched coordinated attacks on El Fasher and the Abu Shouk displacement camp, killing at least 40 civilians.
This brings the confirmed number of civilians killed in North Darfur to at least 542 in just the last three weeks, he said, although the death toll is likely much higher.
Mr. Türk feared even more violence “given the ominous warning by the RSF of ‘bloodshed’ ahead of imminent battles with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their associated armed movements.”
He stressed that “everything must be done to protect civilians trapped amid dire conditions in and around El Fasher.”
Dianne Penn, UN News
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Source of original article: United Nations (news.un.org). Photo credit: UN. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of Global Diaspora News (www.globaldiasporanews.com).
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