Pakistan,News Desk
United Nations: The United Nations unveiled a $35 billion global appeal on Tuesday to help more than 235 million needy people in 2021, including 10.5 million in Pakistan.
The world body is also seeking $285.3 million for Pakistan, targeting around 3.3 million as the most vulnerable and fragile.”
The UN appeal clarified that a record 235 million people around the globe will need humanitarian aid and security next year, a rise of almost 40% by 2020. The UN and its member organisations have described 160 million people in 56 countries as the most vulnerable.
UN Emergency Relief Chief Mark Lowcock said the 40% rise was almost entirely from Covid-19,” which had a particularly devastating effect on emerging economies.
The pandemic prompted one in 33 people to seek emergency relief—a substantial rise from 1 in 45 at the start of the Global Humanitarian Overview 2020, which was also the highest figure in decades.
According to the UN appeal, the global economic impact will continue to have a large-scale socio-economic impact” on Pakistan throughout 2021, “especially on people already living below the poverty line.”
Economic stress is likely to lead to an increase in unemployment, inflation and poverty, the report added, while stressing the need to support emergency relief, prevention and mitigation measures in Pakistan.
The report noted that due to the pandemic, poverty in Pakistan is estimated to rise from 24.3 per cent to 40 per cent in 2021 and that the economic impact of the pandemic will be most acute for vulnerable groups and the refugee population.
The report noted that Pakistan experienced a series of unforeseen shocks over the course of 2020 that pushed the most vulnerable into compounded crises with little chance of recovery and affecting almost every part of the country.
Drought-like conditions followed by a winter emergency in most western parts of the country in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic and related economic shock, coupled with public health measures, dealt a serious blow to livelihoods and the economy, disrupted education, and caused increased food insecurity.
The report noted that in September, the government in Pakistan declared a national emergency due to major monsoon floods in Sindh. 2.4 million people were impacted by the floods and thousands of people were homeless living in the streets surrounded by water and without access to clean water or sanitation.
The UN appeal explained that the global pandemic has had a dramatic impact on people who are already in conflict, record levels of displacement, and climate change shocks.
“Multiple” famines are looming,” the UN emergency chief said, adding that the situation has been “desperate” for millions, leaving the UN and its allies exhausted.
“The picture we are presenting is the bleakest and darkest perspective on humanitarian needs in the period ahead that we have ever set out,” Mr Lowcock said, “That is a reflection of the fact that the Covid pandemic has wreaked carnage across the whole of the most fragile and vulnerable countries on the planet.”