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	Twelve million Syrians now in the grip of hunger, worn down by conflict and soaring food prices by OCHA, UNHCR, IRC, agencies   July 2021   Statement by Mark Cutts, United Nations Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis:   'People across Syria are worse off than at any time since the conflict began 10 years ago. The suffering is heart breaking in the north-west, where millions of people, most of them women and children, have been trapped along the border with Turkey in an active war zone.   More than 2.7 million people have fled to the north-west, an area outside the control of the Government of Syria. They have come in search of safety, surviving horrific sieges in places like Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, Homs or Raqqa.   Their lives depend on the UN trucks that bring food, medicines, shelter and other life-saving aid across the border from Turkey.   The international community has not been able to stop the carnage in Syria, but it has managed to keep people alive by getting essential food, medical supplies and shelter to them.   Um Aiham lives with her five children in one of the ramshackle displacement camps. “Closing the crossing will mean death for us,” she said. “The medicine for my diabetes and high blood pressure and the food for the children all come across the border.”   More than 1,000 trucks cross the border every month. When 1 million people were displaced last year in the north-west in the largest single movement of people since the conflict began, humanitarian workers were able to provide them with food, medicine, protection and shelter. In May, 26,000 people received their first COVID-19 vaccination thanks to the border crossing.   The Security Council approves the assistance annually. When it did so a year ago, its Members said that “the devastating humanitarian situation in Syria continues to constitute a threat to peace and security in the region.”As they again debate renewing the authorization for another 12 months, the need for cross-border assistance deliveries into Syria is even more critical today.   I’ve worked in conflict zones for the last three decades – in places such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and the West Bank and Gaza. But north-west Syria is one of the most desperate humanitarian situations I’ve ever seen.   Most people live in flimsy tents, in valleys that flood, or on rocky hillsides where there is not enough water. Many have been killed or injured as fires have ripped through crowded camps. Tens of thousands of tents have been washed away during floods. Outside the camps, there are a million more displaced people.   Some have found refuge in unfinished buildings, or in the ruins of bombed-out towns and villages. Others are sheltering in abandoned schools and warehouses.   Traumatized by all they have been through, most people fear returning to the Government-controlled areas they fled from. They cannot cross the border legally into Turkey either, which already hosts more Syrian refugees than the rest of the world put together. As the fight escalates, they find themselves trapped in a war zone again, but this time there is nowhere left to run.   Dr. Mohamed Altwaish is a field medical coordinator in north-west Syria for a local aid agency, Hand in Hand for Aid and Development. “Poverty is everywhere,” he said.   “In a maternity hospital this week, a pregnant woman needed an operation and her husband didn’t have the few coins necessary for fuel to get to the blood bank. Staff paid for it themselves.”   The doctor fears that without UN assistance, children will starve, COVID-19 will rampage through crowded camps, and there will be violence and further displacement.   “Despite the UN’s large response in Syria and across the region, more humanitarian access is required to reach those most in need,” said António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, at the Security Council on 23 June, expressing how important it is to maintain and expand access. With more crossings and more funds, the UN could do more to help the rising number of people in need.   We can only hope that one day soon there will be a political solution to the conflict in Syria. Meanwhile, we can save lives through vital cross-border access. By renewing authorization before it runs out this 10 July, the Security Council will ensure that millions of civilians trapped in a war zone continue to get the help they so desperately need'.   * OCHA Situation Report: Recent Developments in Northwest Syria (June 2021)   In July 2021, the humanitarian situation in northwest Syria is more dire than in 2020, when the issue was last reviewed by the Security Council. Similarly, the levels of food insecurity in Syria are the worst since the start of the conflict.   Today, an estimated 12.4 million Syrians are food insecure, an increase of 4.5 million people since last year. This means that nearly 60 per cent of the population do not know what they will eat the next day.   In northwest Syria alone, 3.3 million people are food insecure, representing about 80 per cent of the total population in the area.   Across the country, the number of people who are severely food insecure – a level of need that means people cannot survive without food assistance – has doubled in one year reaching 1.3 million people. At the same time, food prices continue to rise and have increased by a staggering 247 per cent in the last year.   A recent survey by the World Food Programme found that 73 per cent of families reported in May 2021 that they bought food on credit, further adding to the burden of debt that many families are accumulating due to rising prices and a lack of economic opportunities.   Cross-border humanitarian assistance reaches two million people through bread and bakery assistance on a monthly basis, and one million people with emergency food assistance – a discontinuation of which would leave millions of people without basic food supplies to feed their families. http://bit.ly/36shn5l   http://www.unocha.org/story/op-ed-cross-border-aid-operation-north-west-syria-lifeline-millions-people http://unocha.exposure.co/syria10years http://www.nrc.no/shorthand/stories/syria-a-decade-of-war/index.html http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/maps-and-graphics/2021/7/29/syrias-bread-crisis-in-graphs http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interactive/stories/2021/a-decade-of-war-in-syria/ http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories/story/syrian-conflict-timeline-10-years-violence-struggle-and-survival http://phr.org/our-work/resources/syria-ten-years/ http://www.channel4.com/news/syria-conflict-ten-years-on http://reliefweb.int/country/syr http://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/whole-of-syria   Feb. 2021   Twelve million Syrians now in the grip of hunger, worn down by conflict and soaring food prices. (WFP)   A record 12.4 million Syrians - nearly 60 percent of the population - are now food insecure, according to alarming new national data from the UN World Food Programme (WFP). In just over one year, an additional 4.5 million Syrians have become food insecure.   An economic crisis, job losses as a result of COVID-19 and soaring food prices have added to the plight of Syrians who have been displaced and worn down by a decade of conflict.   “The situation has never been worse. After ten years of conflict, Syrian families have exhausted their savings as they face a spiralling economic crisis,” said WFP Representative and Country Director in Syria Sean O’Brien.   Basic foods to feed a family for a month – bread, rice, lentils and oil and sugar- now cost at least 120,000 Syrian Pounds which far exceeds the average salaries.   “It is alarming that a simple meal is beyond the reach of families across Syria, and this new data shows humanitarian assistance is the difference between putting a meal on the table and going to bed hungry. Lifesaving support has never been so crucial,” said O’Brien.   The 2020 Food Security and Livelihoods Assessment carried out by WFP and partners, also estimates the number of people who are severely food insecure – meaning they cannot survive without food assistance – has doubled in just one year to stand at 1.3 million people. Unless urgent action is taken, an additional 1.8 million people are at risk of falling into severe food insecurity.   Over the last year food prices across Syria have soared, and the price of basic items has increased by 236 percent, just as the value of the Syrian Pound has plummeted. On average, the price of oil has increased from 1000 Syrian pounds in Jan 2020, to 5000 Syrian pounds in Jan 2021.   Parents now report making desperate decisions to survive, eating less food so they can feed their children, going into debt, and selling assets and livestock to generate an income. In addition, close to 50% of the Syrian population report having lost one or more sources of income because of the economic downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic.   http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/twelve-million-syrians-now-grip-hunger-worn-down-conflict-and-soaring http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/if-we-don-t-work-we-don-t-eat-syrian-women-face-mounting-food-insecurity http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00623-1/fulltext http://www.nolostgeneration.org/10-years-war-syrian-children-deserve-better http://www.unicef.org/topics/syrian-arab-republic http://www.trocaire.org/news/10-years-on-10-facts-that-explain-syrias-conflict/ http://www.rescue.org/article/syrian-10-year-olds-whove-known-nothing-war http://reliefweb.int/country/syr http://hno-syria.org/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/iicisyria/pages/independentinternationalcommission.aspx   Mar. 2020   Newly displaced in Syria in urgent need of protection, shelter.   A ceasefire in northern Syria agreed between Russia and Turkey came into force on the 6th of March, aiming to halt intense fighting that has sparked a humanitarian disaster.   A monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a relative calm descended on the region. It comes after weeks of intense fighting between Turkish-backed rebels and Syrian forces supported by Russia and Iran.   The agreement lacked any mention of a safe zone where displaced Syrians could take shelter. The UN estimates that a million people have been uprooted by the recent offensive - the largest exodus of the entire nine-year war.   There have been several ceasefires over Idlib in the past. In September 2018, Russia and Turkey agreed to establish a "de-escalation zone", but that ceasefire collapsed.   Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council said: 'The long overdue truce in Idlib will give some respite for exhausted civilians. It will only become a real ceasefire if Russia + Turkey actively monitor & force their allies to refrain from further provocations. Iran, Gulf states & others must also behave. The Idlib truce can become a long term ceasefire if there is separation of forces, grounding of air power and joint monitoring by Turkey/Russia. But 'de-escalation' will again fail if there is no UN lead talks to end war through political deals among Syrians and laying down of arms.'   http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/recent-developments-northwest-syria-situation-report-no-10-12-march-2020 http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/4-years-494-attacks-health-killed-470-patients-and-health-staff-syria http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories/story/despite-ceasefire-massive-humanitarian-needs-remain-northwestern http://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2020/nine-facts-about-nine-years-of-war-in-syria/ http://www.icrc.org/en/document/syria-after-almost-decade-lost-violence-emergency-and-long-term-needs-are-vast http://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1059281 http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/10-years-war-in-syria_erosion-of-fundamental-principles-to-protect-civilians/45636412 http://reliefweb.int/country/syr http://hno-syria.org/#home   28 Feb. 2020   Rapidly escalating conflict in northwest Syria has created healthcare 'mayhem', amid reports of displaced people moving closer to the Turkish border in search of shelter, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as the UN Secretary-General appealed for all warring parties to "step back from the edge of further escalation."   The UN chief Antonio Guterres, described the current displacement crisis in and around Idlib, and the escalation in fighting between Turkish and Russian-backed Syrian forces, as 'one of the most alarming moments' of the nearly-decade long war.   'Without urgent action, the risk of even greater escalation grows by the hour. And as always, civilians are paying the gravest price', he told reporters.   'Even camps and other sites where displaced families have sought shelter have been struck by shelling'. He said that the most pressing need was an immediate ceasefire 'before the situation gets entirely out of control'.   Speaking just hours before the UN Security Council is due to meet in emergency session to discuss the escalation in fighting in Syria, the UN chief said that 'now it's time to give a chance for diplomacy to work, and it's essential that fighting stops'.   Briefing the press in Geneva earlier in the day, WHO Spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that health workers were describing "mayhem in their health facilities." He explained that nearly 170,000 newly displaced people are sleeping out in the open in Idlib - the last opposition-held area of Syria that is the target of a Government-led military campaign with 100,000 children exposed to temperatures close to freezing.   The crisis is the worst that people in northwest Syria have experienced since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, UN humanitarians maintain.   Since 1 December, it is estimated that that nearly a million people have been displaced in the embattled region. Conditions are 'horrifying', said Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).   'We now have 950,000 displacements going in absolutely horrifying conditions. People have nothing and they have no place to go', he told journalists. 'This is an increase upon an increase upon an increase, and it is really tragic to see what is going on'.   Since 1 December, 11 healthcare facilities have been attacked, according to WHO. The UN agency also warned that the displacement crisis has created huge healthcare needs in some medical centres and hospitals but left other facilities deserted, amid a 'sharp rise in trauma cases'.   'As of today, 84 health facilities have been forced to suspend operations since 1 December last year, out of those 84, 31 have been able to relocate and provide services where people have sought refuge from bombardments', Mr. Lindmeier said.   The UN's head of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said: 'We strongly urge Russia and Turkey to build upon their previous agreements to secure a ceasefire for northwest Syria', noting the devastating impact on civilians of the escalation.   Attacks had come from air and ground 'seemingly without regard for civilians', displacing nearly a million, including more than 560,000 children: 'They are fleeing north into ever-shrinking areas where they still hope to find relative safety'.   'Civilians are killed in IDP camps, schools and hospitals. This is happening in plain sight, night and day, day in and day out. Hospitals destroyed. Schools destroyed. People's lives destroyed'.   'And it is all happening under our watch', she declared referring to the UN Security Council. With an 'ever-growing record of destruction and atrocity' in Syria, she noted the countless warnings from the UN that attacks on civilians are simply unacceptable.   'We have reaffirmed to the parties that all military operations must respect the rules of international humanitarian law. If such horrific acts and tactics persist despite global outrage, is it largely because their authors do not fear accountability and justice?'.   She concluded by noting that the civilians living in daily terror from the guns, shells and mortar rounds across Syria, were ''not asking for a pause in the fighting. They are asking for an end to the killing. We must all assume our responsibility to do all we can to stop this violence'.   Kevin Kennedy, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis:   'Today, we conducted an inter-agency UN mission in northwest Syria where the needs for humanitarian aid and protection are growing more desperate by the day. We witnessed first-hand the dire humanitarian consequences of the ongoing violence in Idlib. People are traumatized and frightened and urgently need better access to shelter, food, sanitation, basic health services and protection.   Local aid workers are doing a heroic job, but they are exhausted and are themselves being displaced and killed. All parties to the conflict must adhere to their obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with international humanitarian law.. People in northwest Syria first and foremost need the violence to stop'.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2020/02/1058301 http://bit.ly/2IcqDyh http://www.msf.org/horrific-day-indiscriminate-attacks-idlib-syria   Feb. 2020   The crisis in northwest Syria has reached a horrifying new level, warns Mark Lowcock - UN Emergency Relief Coordinator   We now believe 900,000 people have been displaced since 1 December, the vast majority women and children.   They are traumatized and forced to sleep outside in freezing temperatures because camps are full. Mothers burn plastic to keep children warm. Babies and small children are dying because of the cold.   The violence in northwest Syria is indiscriminate. Health facilities, schools, residential areas, mosques and markets have been hit. Schools are suspended, many health facilities have closed. There is a serious risk of disease outbreaks. Basic infrastructure is falling apart.   We are now receiving reports that settlements for displaced people are being hit, resulting in deaths, injuries and further displacement.   A huge relief operation, across the border from Turkey is underway, but it is overwhelmed. The equipment and facilities being used by aid workers are being damaged. Humanitarian workers themselves are being displaced and killed.   The biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st Century will only be avoided if Security Council members, and those with influence, overcome individual interests and put a collective stake in humanity first. The only option is a ceasefire.   http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/under-secretary-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/children-dying-cold-northwest-syria-says-irc http://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2020/2/5e4e51d04/un-high-commissioner-refugees-appeals-safety-civilians-trapped-idlib.html http://bit.ly/2urtNuV   http://www.iom.int/news/brutal-winter-temperatures-intensify-desperation-rising-numbers-displaced-people-northwest http://www.unhcr.org/emergencies.html http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2020/2/5e3d2d8f4/fresh-violence-northern-mozambique-forces-thousands-flee.html http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2020/2/5e426ebd80/unhcr-alarmed-worsening-conditions-newly-displaced-eastern-drc.html http://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2020/2/5e39d14a4/unhcr-stepping-response-escalating-violence-displacement-sahel-region.html http://story.internal-displacement.org/mena-2021/index.html http://www.internal-displacement.org/research-areas/conflict-and-violence Visit the related web page
	Global military expenditure sees largest annual increase in a decade, reaching $1917 billion in 2019 by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute   Violent conflict remained the main driver of global hunger in 2020   Failing food systems and the resultant increasing world hunger are among the most pressing issues of our time. With 155 million people acutely food insecure and nearly 30 million people on the verge of starvation in 2020, the world is far off track to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030.   Violent conflict remained the main driver of global hunger in 2020. Conflict has a direct negative impact on food systems and resultant levels of food security.   Moreover, heightened food insecurity may create grievances that can escalate into instability and violent conflict. The increases in both acute food insecurity and violent conflict demand urgent and decisive action.   The objectives of this three-part policy paper series are to emphasize the urgency of addressing the relationship between conflict and food insecurity and to point out existing opportunities to do so. This paper, the first in the series, aims, firstly, to inform policymakers of the intricate relationships between food security and violent conflict, secondly, to alert policymakers to the potential ability of food systems to contribute to peace, and then to highlight the action required to enhance this potential.   The paper concludes with four recommendations intended to help guide more effective preventative and mitigating action to limit (and ultimately avoid) the long-term adverse consequences of violent conflict for food security and exploit food security’s potential to foster peace.   http://www.sipri.org/publications/2021/other-publications/food-systems-conflict-and-peacebuilding-settings-pathways-and-interconnections   Global military expenditure sees largest annual increase in a decade, reaching $1917 billion in 2019   Total global military expenditure rose to $1917 billion in 2019, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The total for 2019 represents an increase of 3.6 per cent from 2018 and the largest annual growth in spending since 2010. The five largest spenders in 2019, which accounted for 62 per cent of expenditure, were the United States, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia. This is the first time that two Asian states have featured among the top three military spenders.   Global military spending in 2019 represented 2.2 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), which equates to approximately $249 per person. ‘Global military expenditure was 7.2 per cent higher in 2019 than it was in 2010, showing a trend that military spending growth has accelerated in recent years,’ says Dr Nan Tian, SIPRI Researcher. ‘This is the highest level of spending since the 2008 global financial crisis and probably represents a peak in expenditure.’   * SIPRI monitors developments in military expenditure worldwide and maintains the most comprehensive, consistent and extensive publicly available data source on military expenditure.   http://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/global-military-expenditure-sees-largest-annual-increase-decade-says-sipri-reaching-1917-billion http://unocha.exposure.co/the-impact-of-conflict-in-numbersnbsp http://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/business-as-usual/   April 2021   Aid organisations call on governments to give a single day’s military spending to fight hunger.   A year on since the UN warned of “famines of biblical proportions”, rich donors have funded just 5 percent of the UN’s $7.8bn food security appeal for 2021.   More than 250 NGOs published an open letter today calling upon all governments to urgently increase aid to stop over 34 million people, from being pushed to the brink of starvation this year.   The $5.5bn additional funding recently called for by the UN WFP and FAO is equivalent to less than 26 hours of the $1.9 trillion that countries spend each year on the military. Yet, as more and more people go to bed hungry, conflict is increasing.   Oxfam International Executive Director, Gabriela Bucher said: “The richest countries are slashing their food aid even as millions of people go hungry; this is an extraordinary political failure. They must urgently reverse these decisions. And we must confront the fundamental drivers of starvation – global hunger is not about lack of food, but a lack of equality.”   At the end of 2020 the UN estimated that 270 million people were either at high risk of, or already facing, acute levels of hunger. Already 174 million people in 58 countries have reached that level and are at risk of dying from malnutrition or lack of food, and this figure is only likely to rise in the coming months if nothing is done immediately. Globally, the average food prices are now the highest in seven years.   Conflict is the biggest driver of global hunger, also exacerbated by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic. From Yemen to Afghanistan, South Sudan and Northern Nigeria, conflicts and violence are forcing millions to the brink of starvation.   Many in conflict zones have shared horrifying stories of hunger. Fayda from Lahj governorate in Yemen says: “When humanitarian workers came to my hut, they thought I had food because smoke was coming from my kitchen. But I was not cooking food for my children – instead I could only give them hot water and herbs, after which they went to sleep hungry. I thought about suicide several times but I did not do it because of my children.”   At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Secretary-General called for a global ceasefire to address the pandemic but too few leaders have sought to implement it. Global leaders must support durable and sustainable solutions to conflict, and open pathways for humanitarians to access those in conflict zones to save lives.   Amb. Ahmed Shehu, Regional Coordinator for the Civil Society Network of Lake Chad Basin said: “The situation here is really dire. Seventy percent of people in this region are farmers but they can’t access their land because of violence, so they can’t produce food. These farmers have been providing food for thousands for years – now they have become beggars themselves. Food production is lost, so jobs are lost, so income is lost, so people cannot buy the food. Then, we as aid workers cannot safely even get to people to help them. Some of our members risked the journey to reach starving communities and were abducted – we don’t know where they are. This has a huge impact on those of us desperate to help.”   Among the key signatories to the letter : Oxfam, CARE International, the Danish Refugee Council, Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, World Vision, the Islamic Relief, and Plan International   * In the first quarter of 2021, donors have provided just 6.1% of the total $36 billion requested in the UN humanitarian appeals for the year. In the food security sector, donors met only 5.3% or $415 million of the total $7.8bn requested. (figures as of April 7, 2021)   The military spending figures are based on 2019 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute which estimated global military spending at $1.9tn.   According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), world food prices stood at their highest level in seven years in February 2021.   The study by Development Initiatives of the impact of COVID-19 on aid levels, found substantial declines in aid commitments in 2020 for Canada, Germany, the UK and the US, and a small decline for EU institutions. No data are provided on France, Italy and Japan.   The latest figures on global hunger levels are as of March 2021 from FAO-WPF’s Hunger Hotspots report. In December the UN’s Global Humanitarian Overview warned the number of acutely food insecure people could rise to 270million by the end of 2020. FAO & WFP echoed this estimate in their call to action to avert famine in February 2021.   http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/aid-organisations-call-governments-give-single-days-military-spending-fight-hunger Visit the related web page
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