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Middle East conflict threatens to drive 23 million more children into poverty
A new UNICEF analysis warns that the global economic shock triggered by the conflict in the Middle East could leave more than 23 million additional children at risk of monetary poverty by the end of the year, reversing years of progress and deepening inequality.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“Children are paying the price for the escalating conflict in the Middle East, including children far beyond the region,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, warning, “The longer this continues, the worse the consequences will be.”
The Executor Director’s comments come as her organization published on Thursday a new analysis titled The Impact of the War in the Middle East on Children in Monetarily Poor Households.
Drawing on data from more than 167 countries, the report estimates that over 23 million additional children could fall into monetary poverty by the end of the year, as ongoing tensions in the Middle East and related shipping disruptions continue to have a damaging and potentially irreversible impact on children.
The report highlights how rising food and energy prices, and broader economic shocks resulting from escalating hostilities, including disruptions linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, are eroding what households can afford to buy.
The UN Children’s Fund explained that children in the poorest households are disproportionately affected.
Harm that may last a lifetime
Consequently, Catherine Russell warned, “Rapidly rising costs are making food and education unaffordable for many families. For children already living in poverty, these shocks deepen deprivation and can cause harm that lasts a lifetime.”
UNICEF’s report examines two possible scenarios: adverse and severe poverty.
The adverse scenario, it noted, reflects a moderate economic shock that could push an additional 18.3 million children into monetary poverty.
The severe scenario, it continued, assumes stronger, more prolonged disruptions to prices and economic activity and projects that an additional 23.4 million children could be pushed into monetary poverty if the war continues.
Appeals to the international community
As a result, UNICEF is appealing to national governments, donor governments, and international financial institutions to protect children from the worst impacts of the crisis.
Priority actions include safeguarding domestic and international funding for services and supplies children rely on, including health, nutrition, education and child protection; scaling up and sustaining social protection systems, including child-sensitive cash transfers, ensuring continuity of support before subsidies are removed; and facilitating children and families’ uninterrupted access to affordable essential services and supplies, including through minimum spending floors that rise with inflation.
Moreover, the UN agency appeals for expanding fiscal space to protect domestic investment in essential services, including through debt-service suspension or debt restructuring in contexts where debt servicing exceeds spending on health, education, or social protection, and setting up and implementing child-focused preparedness systems that allow support to reach children rapidly and at scale when shocks hit, including through global cooperation to mitigate the impact of evolving and future shocks.
Putting children’s lives and futures at risk
“This crisis,” Russell decries, “is putting the lives and futures of children at risk.”
If the world fails to act swiftly,” she cautioned, “the combined effects of conflict, economic instability and rising costs will push millions of children into deeper poverty,” adding, “We could see hard-earned development gains unravel.”
(Source: UNICEF)
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