UN relief chief condemns ‘$1 billion-a-day’ cost of war in Middle East

“We’re seeing the consequences spread faster than we can respond”, warned the UN emergency relief chief, Tom Fletcher, as violence reverberates across borders causing mass displacement and economic shocks. 

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, the UN’s top humanitarian aid official said, “this is a moment of grave peril” and warned that without additional support “millions of people will die”.

Over $14 billion needed

The $23 billion appeal announced last December by the UN aid coordinator to help 87 million of the world’s most vulnerable people remains around two-thirds underfunded.

Although the number of people in need of assistance globally far exceeds the 87 million identified, Mr. Fletcher explained that these were the people “in greatest need”. 

“We still need over $14 billion now to deliver this plan, and this is at a time when conflict in the Middle East is costing $1 billion a day,” he said. “Even just $1 billion would allow us to save millions of lives.”

Noting the urgent need to adapt humanitarian relief as crises intensify around the world, Mr. Fletcher added that Gaza and Sudan are “at the very top of that list” in terms of funding needs.

Strait of Hormuz impacts

His comments come amid increasing concerns of the impact that the closure on 2 March of the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping corridor is having on civilians in the most affected areas. 

With the corridor responsible for 20 per cent of the world’s oil, Mr. Fletcher emphasised the impact on food, energy, and fertilizer costs globally. 

“I’m worried that actually further escalation will damage other supply routes. All of this has a direct impact on our humanitarian supplies, including going to areas of key need in sub-Saharan Africa.”

‘We refuse to retreat from our mission’

He said that the priority of the global community should be ensuring the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. 

He also urged member states to help protect humanitarian efforts in the region, after the recent deaths of humanitarian aid workers in Sudan, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“Aid workers are increasingly under attack,” Mr. Fletcher added. “Human ingenuity is being applied to find ever more sinister ways to kill at scale”. 

Last year, 90 per cent of those killed in drone attacks were civilians, many of them humanitarians.

“This is a tough moment for humanitarian action. We are overstretched, under sustained attack and under-resourced, but we refuse to retreat from our principles and we refuse to retreat from our mission.”