Since 2011, a civil war has been going on in Syria after a fierce crackdown on protests denouncing human rights violations in the country took place.
Today, hunger has reached record levels since 2011, according to the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program, David Beasley.
During his visit to Syria last week, Beasley appealed to the world to invest in Syria to help people there to survive.
In a statement he said, “Today, following 12 years of conflict, an economy crippled by runaway inflation, a currency that has collapsed to a record low and soaring food prices, 12 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from. Another 2.9 million people are at risk of sliding into hunger, meaning that 70% of the population may soon be unable to put food on the table for their families.”
He added, “If we don’t address this humanitarian crisis in Syria, things are going to get worse than we can possibly imagine,” said Beasley from Damascus. “Another wave of mass migration like the one that swept across Europe in 2015 – is that what the international community wants? If not, we must urgently seize this opportunity to avert the looming catastrophe and work together to bring peace and stability to the Syrian people.”
WFP stated that prices have increased nearly twelve-fold over the last three years. Syria now has the sixth highest number of food insecure people in the world, with 2.5 million people who are severely food insecure, and their lives are at risk without food assistance.
Child and maternal malnutrition are increasing at a speed never seen before – not even during over a decade of war.
