Before talking about the humanitarian crisis faced by countries individually, I thought of giving an insight of what humanitarian crisis actually means. The causes and impacts of humanitarian crises.
The term Humanitarian Crisis can be defined as, a single event or a series of events that are threatening to the human race in terms of health, safety, basic necessities, human rights and cause damage to a group of people or a community may be due to internal or external conflicts. Sometimes these are limited to certain communities or ethnic groups but sometimes it’s a whole country that suffers and needs humanitarian assistance. What hurts is these global emergencies go unnoticed by the rest of the world.
So, what are the causes of the humanitarian crisis?
Armed Conflict:
A single armed conflict has the potential to inflict devastating human suffering in addition to wiping out development gains accumulated over many years, if not decades. Conflicts are caused due to various interconnected and complex factors which are sometimes rooted to several socio-economic factors. These armed conflicts cause damage in different ways: destruction of various monuments of religious and historical importance, destruction of educational institutions, severe damages caused to health care facilities and uprooting of various organisations that provide safety and security to a nation.
Lack of political and economic stability and governance:
The issues of good governance, political stability and economic stability are always interlinked with humanitarian crises. Political and social exclusion can lead to conflicts. Economic crisis elevates humanitarian crisis by increasing food and water insecurity, unemployment, child health, growth of the informal economy and inflation. Unfortunately, most of the countries that are subjected to humanitarian crisis, suffer because of weak governance and failure of institutions.
Climate change and natural hazards:
Climate change and natural disasters are among the major causes of humanitarian crises. By damaging physical infrastructure, they significantly reduce the quality of life. Climate change, as one of the main drivers of natural disasters, is the most critical contemporary environmental challenge with serious negative social and economic consequences. The effects are generally long term and the damages are subjected to further exploitation as most of the institutions fail to analyse the situation.
Pandemics:
HIV, Ebola, new cholera strains, West Nile virus, SARS, Zika and most recently COVID-19 pandemics have the capacity to cause huge humanitarian crises. These new diseases have emerged in the near decade which were unknown to mankind and have potentially caused a humanitarian crisis. As drivers, pandemics can open the door to compound crises. Each pandemic can weaken the state and society leaving them less capable to tackle the next wave of crises. This dynamic causes pandemics to create crises beyond health, and the spillover can have economic impacts, human security implications, and political repercussions.
Armed conflicts, inflation, lack of political and economic stability and governance, climate change and natural hazards and pandemics are just some of the many drivers of the Humanitarian Crisis.
Impacts of Humanitarian Crisis:
Human Deprivation:
Conflicts and disasters have the largest impact on human life. Weak and conflict affected countries make slower development when compared to other peaceful nations. Communities that experience the highest levels of violence and political instability in a country or a region are least likely to experience improvements in their livelihoods. They suffer in terms of access to economic opportunities and services, particularly in the area of health, education, water and sanitation.
Fragile State:
A fragile region or state has a limited or weakened capacity to carry out basic governance functions, and lacks the ability to develop mutually constructive relations with society. These states are more vulnerable to internal or external shocks, economic crises. A mix of factors including lack of good governance, economic and social exclusion, economic collapse, chronic poverty, extremism and demographic pressures are some factors that cause fragility.
Human Rights Violations:
At times of humanitarian crisis, whether natural, man-made the provision of services can be highly discriminatory and inequitable. The role of the state in addressing these kinds of violations is of the utmost importance. However, weak and fragile states tend to fail in fulfilling their obligations to promote and protect human rights. In such circumstances, the conflict may become both a pretext and a disguise for human rights violations.
Migration and Displacement:
Armed conflicts have forced approximately 6.6 Million people out of Syria, other countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya have accounted for 60% forced displacement. People in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh have been forcefully displaced due to humanitarian crises caused by natural disasters, prolonged drought, floods and earthquakes.
Natural disasters have been one of the major causes of the humanitarian crisis. Similarly, man-made crises, including violent conflicts, civil wars and failed states have equally contributed.
What can be done to improve the situation?
Governments should invest in more sustainable infrastructure, establishment of educational institutions and medical facilities. Strengthening of social capital, intensifying disaster management and disaster risk reduction methods. Instead of investing Millions of Dollars in border security, money should be invested on innovating financing mechanisms for humanitarian assistance, aid and development assistance.
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