UN warns coup and Covid push half of Myanmar below poverty line
[ad_1]
The UN warns that a double coup in Myanmar’s military coup and coronavirus pandemic will wipe out more than a decade of economic development in one of Asia’s poorest countries and lift 12 million people into poverty.
The UN Development Program said on Friday that if left unchecked, the combined impact of the crisis could mean 25 million people, or nearly half of Myanmar’s 54 million population, by 2022 below the country’s official poverty line by 2022.
According to UNDP, women and children will receive “a tragic and inevitable setback against levels of poverty that have not been seen in a generation.”
“We have made a project that predicts that half of the population will live in poverty early next year,” said Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Director. “That’s doubling the pre-pandemic levels of the poor.”
It has been the latest research that has warned of the impact of the economy and humans he overturned the blow Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February. Even before the coup, the livelihoods of millions of people were under threat from Covid-19.
The World Food Program estimates that the economic disruption of the coup could cause 3.4 million people in Myanmar in six months to go hungry, mostly in cities.
The UNDP said it had projected a level of impoverishment not seen in Myanmar since 2005, before a democratic transition that brought Aung San Suu Kyi to power a decade later.
The rule of General Min Aung Hlaing, subsequent mass strikes, and protests and regimes have led to violent repression of dissent. It stopped the Myanmar economy and derailed the Covid-19 vaccination program. He has also sent unrest people running away He crossed the borders of Myanmar and raised concerns about India, China and Thailand.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations last weekend call to end the violence in the junta, start a “constructive dialogue”, accept the visit of a special envoy to Asean and accept humanitarian aid.
Several countries have suspended support programs in Myanmar, and some donor countries were exploring ways to regain aid without the help of the military junta.
“It is still very feasible for the international community, if they have the will to do so, to channel the aid that goes into the country as well,” Wignaraja said.
The UN also said it wanted to help Myanmar recover the Covid-19 vaccination program, which was greatly complicated by the coup. Healthcare workers have been on the front line the movement of civil disobedience against the coup, endangering arrest and violence.
Follow John Reed on Twitter: @JohnReedwrites
[ad_2]
Source link