After Intense Flooding， Malawi Desperately Needs Scale-up in International Aid

洪水肆虐過后，馬拉維急需更多的國(guó)際援助

The international community must rapidly respond to the devastating flooding affecting Malawi with critical humanitarian aid and appropriate funding， a group of United Nations human rights experts affirmed today， warning that the African country was facing “its worst flooding in living memory.”

In a press release， the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons， Chaloka Beyani， the Special Rapporteur on the right to food， Hilal Elver， and the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation， Léo Heller， encouraged the international community to do “everything possible to meet the current serious shortfall in funds and provision of essential aid，” especially as only a quarter of the urgently required $81 million of a Preliminary Response Plan had been received to date.

Malawi is regularly hit by floods and droughts， requiring emergency responses of varying size each year

This year's rains have come ahead of their usual schedule， repeatedly bursting the banks along the Shire and Ruo rivers， and warnings of flash floods remain in place， with more rain forecast for the country's North. With 86 per cent of the population living in rural areas and engaged in farming and livestock rearing， long-term watershed management infrastructures are urgently needed so that even intense flooding is less damaging than this year.

Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff， nor are they paid for their work.

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