UN humanitarian appeal for 2022 paints bleak picture of conflict-ravaged regions
There are 274 million people worldwide who will need emergency aid and protection in 2022, a 17 per cent increase compared with last year, which was already the highest figure in decades, the UN has said.
The amount is equal to “the world’s fourth most populous country”, UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths said at the launch of the 2022 Global Humanitarian Overview in Geneva on Thursday.
The report is the world’s most comprehensive assessment of humanitarian need issued annually by the UN.
An estimated $41 billion is required in urgent relief funds for 183 million people in 63 countries who are most in need, the report said.
Two regions, the Middle East and North Africa and West and Central Africa, have the most pressing humanitarian need because of protracted crises that show no signs of abating.
Famine is a terrifying prospect for 45 million people in 43 countries. More than 1 per cent of the world’s population are displaced, about 42 per cent of whom are children.
Millions of internally displaced people are living in protracted situations, 40 per cent of whom are unable to return home.
“Children, especially girls, are missing out on their education. Women’s rights are threatened,” Mr Griffiths said.
Extreme poverty is rising and food insecurity is at unprecedented levels. Globally, up to 811 million people are undernourished. “Without sustained and immediate action, 2022 could be catastrophic,” the UN said in its appeal.
The Covid-19 pandemic is also taking a heavy toll in developing countries, claiming at least 1.8 million lives across the countries covered in the Overview, fuelled by variants and a lack of vaccines.
Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia and Sudan were the five countries worst affected with the highest aid needs.
Afghanistan needs $4.5bn in relief funds in 2022. Syria comes next with $4.2bn, Yemen with $3.9bn, Ethiopia with $2.8bn and Sudan with $1.9bn.
In Afghanistan more than 24 million people require life-saving assistance to prevent catastrophe.
“Needs are skyrocketing. I saw systems on the brink of complete collapse and the rights of women and girls under threat,” Mr Griffiths said of the war-ravaged country.
He also pointed out that aid agencies “never left Afghanistan, in the wake of August’s Taliban takeover. We have a programme for 2022, three times the size of the programme for 2021 because of the needs”.