United Nations Feb 13th, 2018: If a humanitarian crisis fall in the forest and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer according to report from Care International is yes, but it is a sound so tiny that it is easily missed.
The reported entitled “Suffering in Silence,” throws a spotlight on the 10 most under-reported crisis from North Korea to Peru. Remember, these aren’t the worst humanitarian crises out there, but they’re not the least pressing either. They’re just the ones you may not have heard about.
Sometimes crises fly under the radar because there are more pressing concerns. That’s true of North Korea with everybody too busy worrying about nuclear annihilation to notice that 70 percent of the people there are starving. Other times, it’s a question of access.
This is a problem because experts say there’s a direct link between media attention and the money donated for humanitarian aid. At a time when the U.S. is cutting international aid, the UN refugee agency says it will cost some $23 billion to take care of the around 100 million people caught in these crises.
That’s a lot of money but probably cheaper than a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
The question is will a little more media coverage be enough to convince the U.S. president that these countries deserve the help of the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth. Or is he content to call their countries “shitholes” and leave it at that?