Pakistan: Ban calls on donors to fund $500 million appeal to help displaced

Urging the international community to show their solidarity with the nearly 2 million people who have been driven from their homes by violence in Pakistan's north-west, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the urgency of raising over $500 million to assist those affected by the clashes.

In the capital, Islamabad, today, the United Nations and its partners launched a Humanitarian Action Plan, appealing for $543 million to help the more than 1.7 million people who have escaped fighting between Government forces and militants in the Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) since 2 May.

“The Secretary-General is concerned that Pakistan is currently witnessing rapid displacement on a massive scale,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Further, he stressed the importance of providing aid in partnership with the Pakistani Government and humanitarian agencies.

The UN has identified food, safe water, medical assistance and shelter from the sweltering heat as priorities, also recognizing the need for displaced children to continue schooling and for mothers and babies to access special health and nutrition assistance.

“The scale of this displacement is extraordinary in terms of size and speed, and has caused incredible suffering,” said Martin Mogwanja, acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan. “We care calling for generous support from the international community, in addition to the assistance being provided by both ordinary families and the national authorities.”

Responding to the Government's request for humanitarian help, today's appeal has been expanded to provide aid and protection to the newly displaced people as well as to the 550,000 people who had fled clashes last year in the same region.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today reported that 200,000 of the more than 1.7 million recently uprooted people are living in camps, while the rest are staying with friends and family or in schools and other communal buildings.

With temperatures climbing to 45 degrees Celsius, the agency is working to provide shade above tents to protect the internally displaced persons (IDPs) – who have escaped from much cooler climates in the Swat Valley – from the intense heat.

Until now, the displaced had been receiving cooked meals from the Government, but to allow them to cook their own food, UNHCR is constructing kitchens in camps, as well as fabric screens around tents to provide women with more privacy, agency spokesperson Andrew Purvis said.

Outside the camps, UNHCR field teams have carried out assessments and have started handing out basic relief supplies in more than 700 schools where thousands of people are seeking refuge.

Highlighting the needs of nearly 70,000 pregnant women who have been forced to flee their homes by the recent fighting, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is boosting its support for reproductive health care – centering on comprehensive maternal, neonatal and child health care and psychosocial support – for IDPs in NWFP.

The agency said that almost 6,000 women are due to give birth within the next month, with nearly 1,000 of them needing surgery for pregnancy-related complications.

“We are basing our help on the specific needs of women and families, with a focus on safeguarding human dignity,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA's Executive Director.

The agency, which is also operating mobile service units, voiced concern over the special risk placed on pregnant woman by the massive dislocation, exacerbating the already limited access to prenatal, assisted delivery and emergency obstetric care.