- UK pledges £75m of emergency aid at the G7 Foreign & Development Ministers’ Meeting in Liverpool.
- UK will provide over 1.8 million people with food, health services, shelter and water.
- G7 Ministers discussing how to tackle the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan at this weekend’s meeting.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is to pledge £75m of UK emergency aid to the Afghan people to provide life-saving food, and emergency health services as well as shelter, water and hygiene services.
This vital aid will go through the UN and other trusted delivery partners and will help respond to the worsening humanitarian situation.
The UK’s pledge follows G7 discussions on global crisis and conflict situations yesterday (Saturday, 11 December), including in Afghanistan, where the Foreign Secretary called for greater international cooperation to prevent serious risks of migration, regional instability and humanitarian crises.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said:
The UK is providing vital humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan this winter. The funds announced today will save lives, protect women and girls and support stability in the region. We are determined to do all we can for the people of Afghanistan.
The UK support is part of the £286 million it has pledged to give to Afghanistan this year. It will also be used to provide support for victims of gender-based violence and to fund essential child protection services. Aid agencies will prioritise those most at risk including households headed by women and disabled people.
The UK funding will be channelled through the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, World Food Programme, International Organisation for Migration, United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund and International Rescue Committee. No funding will go directly to the Taliban.
WFP Executive Director, David Beasley said:
What we are seeing on the ground is heart-breaking – 23 million people are facing severe hunger in a country crippled by drought, conflict and an economic crisis.
Women and children are bearing the brunt of this suffering and, as the harsh winter descends, more and more are slipping into malnutrition and starvation each day. The World Food Programme welcomes this donation from the British people and Government which will help us save many lives.
The UK continues to work with international partners to tackle the humanitarian crisis, preserve regional stability, protect the gains of the last 20 years and to stress to the Taliban the essential need for Afghan girls of all ages to go back to school.
At a session yesterday on Afghanistan the G7 Foreign Ministers discussed taking a coordinated international response to the growing crisis in the country. Foreign ministers also talked about how to engage with the Taliban.
Later today the Foreign Secretary will also have discussions with Foreign Ministers from the Southeast Asian group ASEAN, who are attending the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting for the first time, most of them virtually. She will stress the importance of working with Southeast Asia’s ‘economies of the future’ to tackle the challenges of today.
