Une decade after the 2011 famine, which claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people in East Africa, the region is once again on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe. The international community was committed to a solemn ” never again “. No more famine in the region, early warning and preventive action systems had to be put in place. However, almost twelve years later, Somalia and Ethiopia figure with Afghanistan at the head of theEmergency Watchlist 2023 of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), with more than 20 million people affected by hunger in the context of the worst drought in recent decades in East Africa.
A few weeks ago, we traveled to the region to meet our teams and the populations affected by the crises. We have seen how the lives of millions of people have been disrupted by climate change, economic crises and armed conflict. What we have seen is a disastrous illustration of how the international community is failing the most vulnerable populations.
The IRC’s emergency list identifies the twenty countries most at risk of humanitarian decline in 2023. But its main lesson is that humanitarian disasters are the result of choice, not fate. Looking at the twenty countries featured in it, it is clear that armed conflict, the climate crisis and economic shocks are the combined drivers that are tipping a minority but growing part of the world’s population into an ever-increasing crisis. deep. Globally, humanitarian needs have quadrupled over the past decade at the same time as they have become more concentrated. 90% of the 340 million people who will be in need of humanitarian assistance next year, and 81% of all displaced persons and refugees, live in these twenty countries representing barely 1.6% of the world’s gross domestic product.
Abuse of the right of veto at the UN
The findings we present in the emergency list explain why. The local and international ramparts supposed to protect the populations affected by the crises and prevent them from tipping over the precipice are eroding. These are, for example, the resolutions of the UN Security Council intended to protect civilians in times of war and which are no longer adopted due to the abuse of the right of veto. National social safety nets and basic services weakened by the debt crisis of poor countries. Humanitarian responses underfunded, except for Ukraine, where the international mobilization is fortunately there to help the population hard hit by the conflict and war crimes.
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