Attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers. Escalating strikes claiming the lives of civilians, including children. A growing humanitarian crisis, with vast numbers forced to flee their homes. A flagrant disregard for human life.
These terrible scenes are witnessed not only in Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion has transfixed the world, but in other wars across the globe that have largely slipped from the public’s attention – in Myanmar, where the military tries to crush resistance to its seizure of power just over a year ago; in Ethiopia, where the prime minister believed he could win a swift victory against the Tigray region’s leaders, but fighting continues 16 months on; in Yemen, riven by conflict since 2014; in Syria, where the war entered its 12th year this week.
Ukraine’s war was once in the shadows too: the long-running conflict in the Donbas had been largely forgotten until Russian troops began massing at the country’s borders late last year. In each of these cases, the parallels or connections to what is happening there now go beyond suffering, death and mass displacement. For Syrians in the rebel enclave of Idlib, who saw Russia save Bashar al-Assad, its tactics in Ukraine are painfully recognisable: “Fortify your hospitals with cement blocks; the enemy Putin does not distinguish between civilians, wounded people and fighters,” one medic said. Syrian troops are being recruited to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
In Ethiopia, too, health workers have been attacked and grotesque violations of the laws of war have become the norm: this week a horrifying video emerged on showing armed men burning a Tigrayan man to death in western Ethiopia. As many as half a million people have died from the violence and hunger caused by the war, researchers said this week.
In Yemen, more than 4 million people have been displaced, and escalating violence made January the deadliest month for civilians since 2018. The World Food Programme warned it was already forced to take food from the hungry to feed the starving, and might soon be unable to feed even the starving. Yet Wednesday’s UN funding conference raised less than a third of the $4.2bn desperately needed.
In Myanmar, military and security forces have committed systematic and widespread abuses, bombarding populated areas with airstrikes and heavy weapons and deliberately targeting civilians. The UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Monday urged the international community to take “concerted, immediate measures” to halt the spiral of violence. Some supporters of the deposed civilian government hope that the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia will help to make the case for further action against Myanmar’s junta. While the EU recently expanded sanctions to a state-owned oil and gas company, the US has been slow to act.
Yet others fear that the conflict in Ukraine will drag away the political attention and resources needed to put the generals under pressure. Meanwhile, aid agencies find the multiple conflicts, the disastrous conditions in Afghanistan and what is described as the worst-ever hunger crisis in South Sudan have left them torn between grim choices.
More humanitarian funding is needed, alongside political will and diplomatic energy. The victims of these other wars deserve the same level of support and solidarity rightly seen for the people of Ukraine. Those already too often overlooked must not be pushed further into the shadows.
