UNHCR calls for funding to support millions of Afghan refugees

The United Nations refugee arm is seeking hundreds of millions of pounds of funding to support Afghan refugees sheltering in neighbouring countries.

UNHCR said its $613 million (£504m) response plan would support 7.9 million people – a total of 5.2 million Afghans, including refugees, as well as 2.7 million of their local hosts across the region.

Afghanistan is facing one of the world’s largest and most severe humanitarian crises. A record 28.3 million people – some two-thirds of the population, including women and girls – require humanitarian and protection assistance. Needs have been further exacerbated by recent restrictions on women, including the ban on female Afghan NGO staff.

The Regional Refugee Response Plan for the Afghanistan Situation 2023 will support Afghans sheltering in five neighbouring countries: Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which host some 8.2m Afghans, including over two million registered refugees. Humanitarian work resulted in further access to healthcare, primary and secondary education, financial assistance and improvements in water supply systems.

Afghan boys sit outside newly built houses constructed by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Barmal district, Paktika province, following humanitarian work. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

However, UNHCR said a similar funding appeal for last year was only 52 per cent funded, with $321m [£264m] received of the $623m [£513m] required.

Many Afghan refugees have been in the region for decades, mostly in the Islamic Republics of Iran and Pakistan. Those two countries, with others, have accommodated Afghans, offering them access to public services at great cost. An estimated 1.6m people have arrived in the region since 2021.

Over 70 per cent of those in need of support are women and children. A separate UN-wide plan has also been launched to respond to humanitarian needs inside Afghanistan, which needs $4.62 billion [£3.8bn] to support 23.7 million Afghans.