Question Period Note: UN forced to cut food assistance from 10 million Afghans

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has had to reduce its assistance due to funding shortfalls, including in Afghanistan where 10 million Afghans have been removed from the beneficiary list.

• We recognize that the World Food Programme is having to make challenging decisions across the globe as humanitarian needs continue to increase.
• We commend the efforts of the World Food Programme and the United Nations in this challenging context, and will continue to engage with them on how to best continue supporting vulnerable Afghans.
• Canada remains committed to supporting vulnerable people Afghanistan. In 2022, this included $97.5 million of humanitarian assistance through WFP.

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan continues to worsen in 2023. Emergency needs cutting across all sectors, with food and nutrition, health, protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene needs of particular concern. Needs have been driven by conflict, drought, COVID‑19, food insecurity and displacement, and are further exacerbated by the difficult operating context facing humanitarian partners. In 2023, 29.2 million people ‑ more than two thirds of the population ‑ are in need of emergency assistance, including 15.3 million people facing acute food insecurity (of which 2.8 million are experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity). WFP is experiencing significant funding shortfalls across the globe. In 2023, WFP requires USD 25.1 billion to provide food and cash assistance to 171.5 million people in need. As of July, WFP funding shortfalls were approximately 74 percent. As a result, WFP is prioritizing efforts across its operations, including through ration cuts and beneficiary reductions in Afghanistan. Since March 2023, WFP has had to reduce rations by 50 percent for households facing emergency and crisis levels of food insecurity. WFP has also eliminated 10 million people from the list of targeted beneficiaries, reducing the list from 13 million people in March to 3 million in September. WFP aims to increase its caseload to 6.46 million people in the winter season (December‑March), which it believes is feasible with the current funding outlook despite not yet being fully sourced. Canada is consistently a top donor to WFP. To date in 2023, Canada is the 3rd largest single‑country donor to WFP operations. In 2022, Canada allocated $143.4 million in humanitarian assistance funding in response to the Afghanistan crisis, including significant support for emergency food and nutrition assistance.

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