The UN estimates that a third of the population needs humanitarian aid

2023-12-19 06:06:33

The UN is once again particularly concerned about the situation in Burma. A third of the population now needs humanitarian aid, the United Nations warned on Monday.

“Burma is on the precipice for 2024, with an intensifying humanitarian crisis since the military took power in February 2021, and civilians living in fear,” says the report from the UN humanitarian office ( Ocha) published Monday.

An acceleration of needs since the coup d’état

The UN now estimates the number of people in need of humanitarian aid in the country at 18.6 million, one million more than a year ago and 19 times more than in 2020, before the coup. ‘State. “Children are the first affected by the crisis, with 6 million children in need due to displacement, disruption of health care and education, food insecurity and malnutrition, and risks linked to forced recruitment and mental distress,” commented Marcoluigi Corsi, acting UN humanitarian coordinator in the country.

The report is particularly concerned about the continuation of “mass displacements”, with around 2.6 million displaced as of December 11, 2023 (1.1 million more than a year ago), including 660,000 displaced by new fighting since the end of October in the north of the country between the army and fighters from ethnic minorities. And “conflicts and violence are likely to worsen in 2024”, worries the UN, also denouncing the “systematic violence of the military against civilians”.

A call for donations of nearly a billion dollars

Under these conditions, Ocha is launching an appeal on Monday for donations of $994 million to help 5.3 million people identified as priorities in Burma for 2024.

“We cannot afford a repeat of the blatant lack of funding for 2023, with only 29% of requests fulfilled,” insisted Marcoluigi Corsi, noting that 1.9 million people identified as priorities for 2023 had not been able to be helped at all. “Millions of lives are at stake, and we must all do everything possible to prevent Burma from becoming a forgotten emergency,” he argued, in an international context of underfunding of most countries. UN humanitarian programs.