Syria Crisis Endangering Development across Arab World, UN Report Finds
New York, Sep 23 2013 - Recent turmoil in the Arab world imperils progress towards achieving the anti-poverty targets
known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the region, stated a United Nations report released today.
The report, launched by the UN Development Group (UNDG) along with the League of Arab States and the UN Economic and
Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), comes as Secretary-General convened a special event at UN Headquarters on
achieving the MDGs, which world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015.
It noted that while the Arab region has made progress towards many of the Goals since 2010, progress has slowed since
then and the major cause is the widespread impact of the ongoing conflict in Syria.
“The crisis in Syria is a crisis for development across the Arab region,” said Sima Bahous, Chair of the UNDG in the Arab States Region and Director of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Regional
Bureau for Arab States.
“The impact goes far beyond even the tragic and terrible widespread death and destruction in that country: it is also
slowing the region’s progress on development,” she stated in a news release.
In addition to claiming the lives of over 100,000 people, displacing millions and causing widespread damage and
destruction, the crisis in Syria is also having a major impact on human development across the country, according to the
report.
It pointed out that the crisis has pushed at least three million of Syria’s 22 million people into poverty, while the
country’s extreme poverty rate has climbed at least back to 8 per cent after having been virtually zeroed by 2007.
School enrolment rates have plunged and access to health care has also significantly reduced, added the report, which
comes in advance of a more detailed UNDP study to be released in October showing the impact of the Syrian crisis on
development in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
Also, the report stated that the overall climate of instability and insecurity in the Arab region is dragging on
progress more broadly across the region.
Economic activity has been slowed in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen – countries which since 2011 have been pursuing complex
political transitions. Over five million people across the Arab region have been pushed into unemployment since 2010.
“In the case of Yemen, this slowdown comes atop already high poverty rates and deep challenges across the entire
spectrum of development,” the news release stated. Over 10 million people in the country, nearly half of the total
population, may be food insecure, according to the report.
Instability also complicates an already dire degree of water scarcity, the report added. Yemen suffers from chronic
shortages and may be the first Arab country to run out of water, possibly as early as 2015. As of June 2012, 12.7
million Yemenis lacked access to safe water or sanitation.
The report also showed that many Arab countries are “off the path” to reach many important MDGs. Overall, the region
lags behind on key targets, particularly those related to nutrition, food security, access to water and sanitation, and
child and maternal mortality.
Today’s report comes as world leaders gather in New York to discuss not only progress towards the MDGs but also a new
global development agenda which will come after the Goals expire in 2015. The discussions will include options for
reflecting the importance of peace and security in a new development framework.
“The experience of the Arab region makes the linkage clear,” said Ms. Bahous. “Where there is no peace, there is no
development; where there is no development, there can be no peace.”
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
ENDS