UNHCR warns rising tide of hunger, insecurity, and underfunding worsening gender-based violence risks
The UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has issued a caution that deteriorating economic conditions, recent and ongoing hostilities, and a scarcity of humanitarian funds are elevating the danger of gender-based violence for women and girls who have been forcibly displaced.
“A perilous combination of crises — conflicts, climate change, soaring expenses, and the ripple effects of the Ukraine conflict – are imposing a catastrophic burden on the forcibly displaced. This impact is being felt globally, but women and girls are particularly suffering,” stated UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
Due to escalating prices and inadequate humanitarian assistance resulting from disrupted supply chains and funding deficits, a significant number of refugees and internally displaced individuals are unable to fulfill their essential needs.
In light of the loss of possessions and livelihoods, the breakdown of community safety nets, and their frequent exclusion from education and other social protections, displaced women and girls are often the most susceptible to shocks. Many women and girls face agonizing choices to survive due to food scarcity and rising costs.
“With savings exhausted, many are missing meals, children are being sent to work rather than school, and some may have no alternatives but to beg or participate in the sale or exchange of sex to survive. Too many are encountering heightened dangers of exploitation, trafficking, child marriage, and intimate partner violence,” remarked Grandi.
UNHCR has observed serious nutritional issues among refugee populations in Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Niger, Tanzania, Uganda, Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. Stunting, anemia, and acute malnutrition are among these. Over seventy percent of refugees in eastern and southern Africa have experienced reductions in their food rations and are currently unable to satisfy their basic needs. Nine out of ten Syrian refugees in Lebanon cannot afford fundamental necessities such as food and services, while 1.8 million Syrians residing in displacement camps within Syria endure severe food insecurity.
According to data from the UNHCR, half of those who have been forcibly displaced throughout the Americas consume only two meals a day, and three-quarters have diminished the quantity or quality of their food intake. Yemen and the Sahel are expected to face substantial declines in food security, and millions of internally displaced individuals reside in countries like Somalia and Afghanistan where 90% of the population lacks access to sufficient food.
As detrimental coping strategies emerge across all communities, there exists a concerning and harmful cycle of hunger and insecurity, each intensifying the other and heightening risks to women and girls.
Particularly alarming are reports of girls being compelled into marriage to enable the family to afford food. Child marriages are on the rise in the East and Horn of Africa as a method of alleviating household financial strain. The drought heightens the risk of sexual assault because it necessitates that women and girls travel greater distances to collect firewood and water.
While the demand for programs addressing gender-based violence has never been more pressing, UNHCR is apprehensive that funding has not kept pace. The highest sum ever will be necessary for UNHCR to support global initiatives aimed at preventing and responding to gender-based violence in 2023—approximately USD 340 million.
UNHCR is urging donors to continue their support for life-saving humanitarian programs to ensure that refugees and other forcibly displaced populations can meet their essential needs, in alignment with this year’s UN theme for the 16 Days of Activism: uniting to end violence against women and girls.
