The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is urging Japan to make further financial contributions to help with the expected influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan and other neighboring countries, a top UNHCR official said.
Kasidis Rochanakorn, UNHCR's regional representative for Japan and South Korea, said that while Japan's recent pledge of 4.7 billion yen in emergency grant aid for Pakistan will be "a big help," it is not clear how much of that will be disbursed through international organizations.
"We are anticipating that an additional contribution will come from Japan directly to the UNHCR" to cover the $30 million (3.625 billion yen) immediately needed to deal with an initial influx of up to 100,000 refugees, Rochanakorn said in an interview with The Japan Times earlier this week.