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Afghanistan: Humanitarian Assistance
Lord Hughes of Woodside asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What response they are making to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.[HL1478]
Baroness Amos: Afghanistan is currently suffering from its worst drought in 30 years. This, combined with continuing conflict and the absence of significant economic recovery, has led to a dramatic deterioration in the humanitarian situation. The UN indicates that about 12 million people (over half the country's population) have been affected by the drought; 3-4 million of them seriously. One million people are thought to be at risk of famine. Neighbouring countries are becoming increasingly unreceptive to population flows from Afghanistan and there have been reports of border closures over recent months.
We have continued to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan where this can be done effectively. This financial year, we have provided some £10.5 million through UN agencies, the Red Cross and NGOs. As well as drought relief assistance, this includes a longer-term programme of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan population, both in Afghanistan itself and to Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran. We intend to continue with this programme in the coming year, and stand ready to respond to additional needs as required.
We have also reviewed our policy of not financing NGO activities that involved UK nationals, because of the personal security risks. There have been no serious security incidents involving expatriates for some time. With this in mind, we have decided to consider funding on a case by case basis for NGOs that send UK nationals into the country. As before, the appraisal of
proposals will continue to include an assessment of the agency's personnel security arrangements. Only if these arrangements are judged to be appropriate would the agency be eligible for funding.BSE
Lord Elder asked Her Majesty's Government:
- If they will publish the most recent figures for confirmed BSE cases broken down by year of birth.[HL1480]
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman): The position in Great Britain as at 26 March 2001 was as follows:
| Year of birth | Total number of confirmed cases |
| 1974 | 1 |
| 1975 | 0 |
| 1976 | 2 |
| 1977 | 10 |
| 1978 | 6 |
| 1979 | 41 |
| 1980 | 101 |
| 1981 | 261 |
| 1982 | 1,393 |
| 1983 | 4,462 |
| 1984 | 8,067 |
| 1985 | 11,065 |
| 1986 | 19,733 |
| 1987 | 36,876 |
| 1988 | 22,192 |
| 1989 | 12,652 |
| 1990 | 5,647 |
| 1991 | 4,591 |
| 1992 | 3,201 |
| 1993 | 2,454 |
| 1994 | 1,351 |
| 1995 | 379 |
| 1996 | 5* |
| Unknown | 43,322 |
| Total | 177,812 |
* A fourth case of BSE in an animal born in 1996 was confirmed on 9 February. The animal was born in January 1996, before the feed ban is considered to have been fully effective.
A fifth case of BSE in an animal born in 1996 was confirmed on 22 March. The animal was born in May 1996, before the feed ban is considered to have been fully effective.
The unknown dates of birth relate to cattle born before 1 July 1996, when it became mandatory for cattle to have passports which show their date of birth. In some cases it is not possible to confirm the date of birth of these animals from farm records.