Syria is witnessing unprecedented levels of poverty, UN official

Syria is witnessing unprecedented levels of poverty, UN official
February 14, 2022, 10:57 am

Al-Thawra street-Local market in Damascus

Imran Riza, U.N. Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, told Reuters: "What you have is a cascade of crises," adding that "We are seeing levels of poverty that we haven't seen before, levels of need that we haven't seen before."

Riza said: "You see a lot of people moving towards very negative coping mechanisms - more child labour, more child marriage, very high levels of debt right now. People selling key household assets."

Anna Cervi, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Syria, said that across the country people are forced to make tough choices, such as choosing between paying for a parent's medical treatment, "or save that money to put a meal on the table for their kids."

Issam Habbal, the head of Sa'ed, an NGO, said that "Every house is in need of help, even state employees and middle-income people."

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Reuters interviewed Fouad Chahine, a state employee, who spends his salary of 120,000 pounds within three days. He rarely buys clothes for his three children. He tops up his income by selling nuts.

He said: "In 2013, life was more comfortable than now. Now you sleep, wake up and see that prices have gone up."

The report noted that across Syria, the human cost of the war has been huge, including more than 350,000 people killed and over half the population uprooted.

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But while the frontlines have been largely frozen for years, an economic crisis is exacting an increasingly heavy toll across the fractured nation.

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