WeeklySA_AdminRELIEF: Urgent intervention urgently needed to mitigate staggering humanitarian crises evolving on immeasurable scale worldwide, says United Nations body…
By Monk Nkomo
More than 100 million people are currently experiencing immeasurable human suffering in several parts of the world – displaced from their homes by ongoing conflicts, natural disasters and human rights violations.
This is according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, in its report released in Geneva today in response to a sharply higher number of deepening humanitarian crises worldwide in 2023 – the highest annual number of declared emergencies in the last 10 years.
‘’ Over the past year, we have seen a staggering increase in emergencies with new crises unfolding and unresolved ones deteriorating, pushing the boundaries of our capacity to respond’’, said Dominique Hyde, the UNHCR Director of External Relations.
However, the report does not include the millions of Palestinians displaced in the current Israeli war on Gaza. On October 13, Israeli authorities ordered more than a million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes.
Two months later, almost 1,9 million people – 85 percent of Gaza’s population – are displaced, nearly half crammed inside Rafah, the enclave’s southernmost governorate with a pre-war population of 280 000.
Israel launched the military operation after the October 7 Hamas-led attack that resulted in the killing of 1 200 people, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli government.
Elsewhere, the Emergency Preparedness and Response in 2023 report notes that the UNHCR issued 43 emergency declarations to scale up support in 23 countries and displaced 7,4 million relief items to serve up to 16,7 million people around the world. The UNHCR delivered emergency supplies worth nearly R1 billion from its seven global stockpiles.
Some of the worst affected countries affected by wars and conflicts included Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although their plight was no longer in the media headlines, millions of refugees from Ukraine still needed urgent support. The UN and its partners have appealed to their donors to help in supporting the war-affected communities.
“ Whether sparked by conflict, human right violations, natural disasters or extreme weather events, these emergencies have resulted in a surge of displacement, leaving countless individuals and families in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection,’’ said Hyde. “The scale of human suffering is unmeasurable and a stark reminder of the imperative for collective action and solidarity.’’
The UNHCR last year responded to multiple crises globally, aiding millions affected by earthquakes in Syria, Turkiye and Afghanistan. There was also a new conflict in Sudan, flare-ups of old conflicts in Karabakh and Somalia; a deteriorating crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, unprecedented mixed movements of refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as floods in Libya and the Horn of Africa.
With the upward trajectory of emergencies in 2023 poised to persist this year, the UNHCR warned that the number of forcibly displaced people throughout the world was expected to increase to 130 million by the end of the year.
‘’ The need for solidarity and support for people forced to flee their homes has never been as important as is today.’’
The UNHCR is currently responding to ongoing emergencies in multiple countries, including in:
- Afghanistan, where millions of people are experiencing misery and hunger amid decades of conflict, economic collapse, drought and freezing temperatures.
- In Sudan, hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to flee the deadly clashes in their country. The UNHCR is delivering humanitarian aid inside Sudan and its neighbouring countries including Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic.
- In the Democratic Republic of Congo, an estimated five million people have been displaced between 2017 and 2019, because of insecurity, violence and disasters.
- In Syria, after a decade of crisis, millions of displaced families have been forced to flee their homes since 2011 seeking safety as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and beyond while others are displaced inside Syria.
- As the Horn of Africa enters its sixth consecutive rainy season with no rain, displacement continues to climb as millions from Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia struggle to survive amid scarce water resources, hunger, insecurity and conflict.
- In Venezuela, people continue to leave the country to escape violence, with over seven million Venezuelan refugees and migrants spread worldwide, the vast majority in countries within Latin America and the Caribbean.
- In Ukraine, the UNHCR is working with national authorities, United Nations agencies, displaced communities and local and international partners to provide urgently needed assistance.
- In Rohingya, refugees fled the violence in Myanmar at a staggering rate in 2017 and the numbers keep growing. At the peak of the crisis, thousands were crossing into Bangladesh daily. They arrived exhausted and sick – in need of international protection and humanitarian assistance.
The UNHCR said in emergency situations, giving cash to the people affected by the crises has increasingly shown to be a more effective, efficient and dignified means of providing vulnerable people with humanitarian assistance.
