The Russian war against Ukraine indirectly affects other countries. In Syria, the conflict is causing an economic crisis and an unprecedented rise in prices, including in the north-west, an area dotted with IDP camps. The country’s population is now having greater difficulty putting food on the table. This is the case of Hamida Al-Hussein, 70 years old.
Al-Hussein lives in a tent, hot in summer and cold in winter. She lives with her daughter-in-law and seven grandchildren in a random camp on the outskirts of Idlib after they were forced out of their village of Umm Al-Kanais, south of the city, three years ago after Russian bombing raids that destroyed their home in 2019. Despite her advanced age, this woman is struggling to feed her grandchildren, who after the death of their father became the only breadwinner in the family. The grandmother works hard six hours a day on the farmland and earns a small salary of 15 Turkish lira, which is less than one euro.
PHOTO GALLERY
Most of the displaced people in the camps rely on firewood for cooking due to the very high prices of fuel, gas and electricity; A bottle of petrol costs around 12 euros, which means that a woman has to work six days, 36 hours just to buy a bottle of petrol that lasts just ten days. And for Al-Hussein such an effort is hardly bearable.
Suffering increases after the war in Ukraine
The war continues in north-west Syria, which is controlled by the armed opposition, Islamic groups and Turkey. The Syrian regime and Russian warplanes regularly attack civilians. Inflation is also high in this region: in January this year, the price for 775 grams of bread was five Turkish lira (30 cents), by the end of March the amount had fallen to 625 grams at the same price. . According to data from Unicef, between February and March 2022, the grocery basket increased in price by almost 24%. Now Russia’s war against Ukraine has fueled inflation even further.
Russia and Ukraine account for more than half of the world’s sunflower oil supply and about 30% of the world’s wheat. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ukraine alone provided more than half of the UN World Food Program (WFP) wheat shipments. Food, fuel and fertilizer prices are rising and supply chains are disrupted.
Before the war in Ukraine, half the population of north-western Syria could not meet their daily bread needs. “Conflict, climate shock and the coronavirus, combined with skyrocketing food and fuel prices, mean more and more people don’t know where their next meal will come from,” OCHA warns via email. And it adds that 3.1 million people are food insecure and a million more are at risk of becoming food insecure.
“Almost a third of Syrian children suffer from chronic malnutrition. The impact of the war in Ukraine on food prices makes the bad situation even worse,” confirmed Catherine Russell, Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell at the VI. Brussels conference on Syria. More than 6.5 million children are in urgent need of help, the highest number since the conflict broke out in this country.
Northwest Syria is economically affected by the direct impact of the Turkish economy due to the circulation of its currency due to the loss of the Syrian pound against the US dollar, which last month reached its lowest level in its history (4,760 per dollar). Also due to the import of goods from Turkey, which “began to prevent the export of some basic commodities due to shortages in the country itself, which directly affects people and societies,” explains Jalal Bakkar, an expert on Turkey’s economy, in a telephone interview.
Northwest Syria is also experiencing high inflation: in January this year, 775 grams of bread cost five Turkish lira (30 cents), by the end of March the amount had dropped to 625 grams due to the same price. Omar Albam
OCHA warns of the rapid increase in the number of poor workers, who have doubled in the past year, earning between 20 and 30 Turkish liras ($1.50 and $1.90) a day. In the best case, because Al-Hussein only gets 15 (90 cents) for his hard work. Due to the few options, many people resort to mechanisms such as “Borrowing money, selling things or eating cheaper, all of this increases the family’s need for protection,” they warn of this organization.
Since the Syrian revolution began in 2011, the economy has shrunk by more than 60%. The reasons include a series of massive and consecutive crises caused by widespread destruction of infrastructure as a result of hostilities, disruption of trade, transport and production, loss of life and human capital. These are some of the obstacles that impede economic activity and increase poverty. The collapsing economy has left millions of vulnerable Syrians struggling to survive in the war-torn country, where almost 90% of the population lives below the poverty line. So much so, that according to OCHA, seven out of ten people in north-west Syria need help every month.
Economist Bakkar hopes that through negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, there will be solutions and that humanitarian norms will succeed in ending the Russian war, thereby stopping the economic exhaustion of peoples and people. For its part, the OCHA office concludes: “The international community has not been able to stop the massacre in Syria, but has managed to keep people alive by providing them with basic food, medical supplies and shelter According to her, 800 trucks cross the border every month and the Security Council renews its aid agreement every year because the need for cross-border aid deliveries to Syria is “more important today”. Spain recently announced that it would contribute seven million euros to this humanitarian crisis. But the global care allowances are not enough year after year. UNICEF alone needs $312 million (EUR 295 million) to respond to this emergency and another $20 million (EUR 18 million) “urgently” just to continue its work in the north-west of the country. “To date, we have received less than half of what we need to meet the needs of Syrian children,” they said in a statement.
The tent where Al-Hussein lived for a long time is worn out, and the woman laments: “Nobody renovated it for me.” And like every other woman in the world, she dreams of leaving the tent and moving into a building to live in dignity and security.
You can follow PLANETA FUTURO at TwitterFacebook and Instagram and subscribe to our “Newsletter” here.