This month, it is ten years since the Arab Spring in Syria saw mass protests against the police and intelligence regime of President Bashar al-Assad. These culminated in a (civil) war, which continues to rage today, after Assad used the military against his own population. An NGO report draws a devastating balance sheet on the tenth anniversary: over 600,000 dead, an estimated 13 million displaced, 1.2 trillion US dollars in costs.
Image: APA (AFP / archive)
The study entitled “A Price Too High” by the children's aid organization World Vision and the consulting firm Frontiers Economics examined both the effects of the war on the Syrian economy and the people, especially the children. 55,000 children (more than nine percent) are among the 600,000 dead.
The Syrian war is therefore the conflict with the highest number of bombs dropped on schools and health facilities worldwide. The life expectancy of children in the country has fallen by 13 years since 2011, also because of the use of children as soldiers. “I have met children across the region whose lives have been destroyed by the conflict,” said World Vision International President Andrew Morley, according to a broadcast.
As for the material costs of the war, the research has confirmed the grim predictions of a previous study in 2016. The report five years ago warned that economic costs could rise from over $ 275 billion at the time, in the worst case scenario, to $ 1.3 trillion by 2020. This has almost come true with the 1.2 trillion US dollars (998 billion euros) that have now been achieved. These 1.2 trillion are made up of the comparatively small sum of 19.4 billion dollars in international humanitarian aid that has so far reached the people of Syria.
The current study also predicts an additional 1.4 trillion US dollars (1,164 billion euros) by 2035 or even an additional 1.7 trillion if one includes the health and education of children. “What cannot be expressed in these sober figures alone: the real costs for the children affected and thus the next generation can only be grasped if one considers the traumatic experiences, missed school years and the loss of medical care and their low chances of getting a good job Add in broken dreams, “says Sebastian Corti, Managing Director of World Vision Austria, of course, with additional concerns.
A survey of 400 Syrian children and young people was also carried out as part of the investigation. All of them want one thing above all else: Peace was the result.
