Photo/Illutration U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a news conference at the U.N. headquarters in New York in January 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

UNITED NATIONS--The United Nations chief will convene a ministerial meeting in Geneva on Sept. 13 to seek a swift scale-up in funding to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where nearly half the country’s 38 million people need assistance.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric made the announcement Friday and said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also appeal “for full and unimpeded humanitarian access to make sure Afghans continue to get the essential services they need.”

Dujarric said the U.N. appeal for $1.3 billion for 2021 to help more than 18 million people is just 40% funded, leaving a $766 million deficit.

“Afghanistan faces a looming humanitarian catastrophe,” the U.N. spokesman said. “One in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from. Nearly half of all children under the age of 5 are predicted to be acutely malnourished in the next 12 months.”

Earlier Friday, Dujarric said the secretary-general is “very grateful for the generosity” of Denmark, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United States for making available facilities and transport for the temporary relocation of U.N. staff in Afghanistan.

Dujarric announced Aug. 18 that about 100 of the U.N.’s 300 international staff were being moved to Kazakhstan to work remotely because of security concerns.

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