And then our idiotic, parochial government tries to convince Europe and the UN that Malta has a massive and unprecedented immigration crisis
From Reuters headlines today: HUNGER THREATENS SYRIANS – CHILDREN DYING OF MALNUTRITION AS REFUGEES IN LEBANON MAY NO LONGER RECEIVE FOOD AID
Reuters reports: Syrian activists have filmed the bodies of several skeletal children who doctors said died of malnutrition. The most recent victim was one-year-old Rana Obeid, who died on Tuesday. Footage showed her with her ribs protruding and belly swollen.
Doctors said she was the sixth child to die from malnutrition in the Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya.
Such cases are hard to confirm by international aid groups, which have little access to areas hit by violence. But groups like Save the Children, which released a report on hunger, say such incidents point to a potential crisis.
“You have rampant inflation of food prices, lack of access to food and a huge problem reaching people in need. These are all the ingredients that lead to a food security crisis. There isn’t strong data but there is a strong reason to worry,” said Save the Children’s George Graham.
(…)
Mouadamiya is controlled by rebels but under blockade by Assad’s forces. The UN says aid workers have been unable to visit the town for over a year due to fighting.
“Food is only dozens of metres away and our children are dying because of a checkpoint or a sniper,” said Omar, a doctor in the town, speaking by Skype.
Save the Children cited reports suggesting a quarter of Syrian families go as much as a week at a time without being able to buy food. Food is often available but prices have doubled in the last year and poverty is rising.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), about 4.25 million people need food aid. It targets three million people for aid a month. But Graham said other aid groups assess that at least 10 million people face problems getting food.
“We have a situation where millions of people are not being given any help at all,” he said.
(…)
More than 750,000 refugees have poured into neighbouring Lebanon since the conflict began. Nearly 15,000 Syrians register as refugees with the UN in Lebanon each week, pushing aid agencies to scramble for funds to assist them.
6 Comments Comment
Reply to La Redoute Click here to cancel reply
But, of course, Muscat had to embarrass us internationally by whingeing to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon about our ‘crisis’ and how – sob, sob – we can’t cope and shouldn’t be left alone.
Don’t you just love the subtle way Ban Ki-Moon put Muscat in his place with his reference to Syria? Read it here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130925/local/pm-discusses-irregular-migration.487704
You are right, but I don’t think our dear PM did realize what message Ban Ki-Moon conveyed him in his eagerness to take photos with world leaders and publish them here through the DOI.
Joseph Muscat is the typical, thick-skinned, literal Maltese man. He simply cannot understand subtle hints in a conversation.
Malta should take a lead in such issues, by word and by example. We should show the world that we are up to it, and in the process garner international respect and admiration.
Instead we go around whimpering like a spoilt child.
Lebanon’s population is ten times ours – 4,000,000. Their refugee intake is 750,000; our intake is a few thousand 3-4,000). Do the math!
[Daphne – I can’t stand that argument. It’s one of those ridiculous ‘on paper and all things being equal’ theories that make little sense in real life and practice. The reality is that dealing with the unexpected arrival of 4,000 destitute people is a whole lot easier to organise than dealing with the unexpected arrival of 750,000 of them, whatever the size of the country or population, more so when the 750,000 come in a sudden influx. You need massive emergency mechanisms to cope with that kind of thing, and the size of the country or population have little or nothing to do with it, as you will see from Syria, which can’t cope despite the presence and input of the world’s major aid organisations.]
The point being made is the opposite of what you interpreted, Daphne: that Lebanon has taken in the equivalent of one fifth of their population in refugees while Malta just has a tiny few even by comparison.
[Daphne – I know that. MY point is that one should never use an intrinsically fallacious argument to prove one’s point.]