Displacement and poverty a chronic disease that affects Syrians

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is the most dangerous for the lives of civilians in northwest Syria, many other challenges are facing them, such as poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and lack of basic services.

Between displacement and extreme poverty… What are the conditions of displaced families in northern Syria?

What is not hidden from the world is the tragic conditions in which the vast majority of the population of northwest Syria live, where the war has displaced thousands and left them facing one crisis after another.

The suffering began with the forced displacement imposed by the war due to the difficulty of securing housing, as the majority of the displaced sought refuge in the camps despite the difficulty of living there, while others chose to live in houses in the northern Syrian towns despite the high wages, which are estimated at 50 US dollars for the average house.

In a relatively small area where nearly four million people live, including more than 2.1 million displaced people, most of them live in camps where unemployment and poverty have spread, threatening the lives of hundreds of families there, as most families are now under the poverty line.

Humanitarian and international organizations have long warned that food insecurity has reached its peak in Syria, where the United Nations World Food Program stated in February 2021 that 12.4 million Syrians struggle to obtain food, which means that 60% of Syrians suffer from Food insecurity.

Unemployment in northern Syria

It has become the dream of the breadwinner of the family to get enough work to secure a livelihood for his family. Where the high population density, which resulted in a lack of job opportunities, in addition to the loss of most of the livelihoods of the displaced, such as agricultural land, after it was occupied by the regime forces and Russia, increased the suffering of the displaced.

According to a study issued by the Support Coordination Unit in April 2021, the percentage of males between the ages of 20-45 years who work and have job opportunities in northern Syria reached 59% of the total males, while the percentage of working females reached 32% of the same age group.

The study added that the sources of income for civilians in northern Syria vary, as 9% of workers depend on work in the education sector, while 8% of them depend on professions and seasonal agriculture, and 6% of them depend on self-employment. Small trade and livestock in addition to work in humanitarian, medical, and other organizations.

It should be noted that the region needs immediate and radical solutions to eliminate the high unemployment rates and the scarcity of job opportunities. Among those solutions that may have an impact on the region are supporting small projects that may contribute to securing job opportunities for many civilians, in addition to vocational education, and supporting specialized projects in this field.

Corona pandemic exacerbates the situation in northern Syria

The “Covid-19” Pandemic that swept northwest Syria has claimed hundreds of lives and paralyzed the departments of the medical sector.

The latest statistics of the Early Warning Network showed that the number of deaths of “Covid-19”, as of Tuesday, October 26, reached 1,757 deaths and that the total number of infected people rose to 86,944. As for today, the numbers of injuries are no longer accurate due to the inefficiency of examination procedures, in addition to the Scarcity of medical materials and oxygen cylinders and overcrowding of nursing beds.

In the densely populated camps that lack the minimum necessities of life, the Corona pandemic began to penetrate quickly there, followed by a noticeable increase in the number of people infected with the virus, since the preventive measures were hard to implement

With the closure of most hospitals supported by humanitarian organizations, people have had to go to private hospitals and clinics, which has caused a new economic burden on them, as well as those with serious diseases for which there is no treatment in the region, and it is often difficult to transfer them to Turkey for treatment.

(1) Assistance coordination unit

For more information or press interview requests, please contact: [email protected]