December 23, 2019

The catastrophes threatening global peace and order

topic:	Peace and Reconciliation
located:	South Sudan, Haiti, Venezuela
editor:	Bob Koigi

Conflicts, climate change, displacements and underperforming economies have defined 2019 as the world increasingly becomes a tough place to live in. Humanitarian agencies have predicted that lack of commitment, uncoordinated interventions and booming populations are set to exacerbate the already dire situation in 2020.

This year alone over 109 million people the world over have been caught in the middle of humanitarian crises – meaning one out of every 45 global citizens have been vulnerable and in need of food, shelter, education, health and other emergencies. Even more alarming is that the number of those needing this attention increased by 22 million within the past year and is set to rise to 200 million by 2022.

As the compliance to international law declines – igniting violent conflicts, seas and oceans rise to unprecedented highs causing extreme droughts and floods and economies (especially in low-income countries) take a hit sparking debt distress, more people globally find themselves in situations that are rendering them helpless, vulnerable and at the mercy of humanitarian aid.

The situation in Yemen, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has only been getting worse with 24 million people, about 80 per cent of the population, currently in need of humanitarian assistance even as challenges to tackle the cataclysm mounts.

The Syria crisis that has created 6 million new IDPs, the deepening economic situation in Sudan that has ignited a large scale food crisis, the worsening calamity in the Sahel, the conflict in South Sudan and economic and social meltdowns in Venezuela and Haiti are some of the 2019 highlights that remain unsolved as the world heads to 2020.

Yet political will, public-private partnerships, innovations and unity of purpose among the community of nations remain the ultimate panacea for addressing such avoidable global catastrophes that threaten to spiral out of control in 2020, further threatening global peace and order. The best time to address them was yesterday, the next best time is now.