THE TEN MOST UNDER-REPORTED HUMANITARIAN EVENTS OF 2003

Posted on February 8, 2004 by Dave Pollard
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MÈdecins Sans FrontiËres (Doctors Without Borders) recently released its list of the ten most under-reported humanitarian events of 2003. The map above shows which countries these events occurred in. Although the MSF site is temporarily down, you can read the complete details of these stories here. The top 10 stories are:

  1. Tens of thousands seek refuge in Chad from wars in Sudan and Central African Republic
  2. Ongoing oppression of civilians, war and dislocation in Chechnya
  3. Tenth year of civil war in Burundi lowers life expectancy to 40, causes massive dislocation
  4. Three million displaced in Columbia, infrastructure destroyed, violence & disease rampant, ‘drug war’ ruins economy
  5. Daily terror and disease in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo pushes 20-year death toll past three million
  6. Annual death toll from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa reaches two million because $1 treatment is too expensive
  7. Twelve years of violence, displacement, flooding and drought make Somalia the world’s most destitute country
  8. Millions of refugees fleeing starvation and terror in North Korea struggle in fear and deprivation in hostile China
  9. ‘Free’ trade agreements deprive millions of AIDS victims in Southern Africa and elsewhere of affordable treatment
  10. War, displacement and lack of medical care produces massive malnutrition in Ivory Coast and Liberia

Why aren’t the media covering these stories? None of them is physically close to the West. None of them involves countries with resources of strategic importance to the West. Almost all of them are ongoing, so there is nothing ‘new’ to report each day. None of the people in these countries has resorted to terrorist attacks against the West to bring attention to our indifference to their plight. And all of them are intractible problems, and therefore issues that those of us in the West would rather not know about.

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9 Responses to THE TEN MOST UNDER-REPORTED HUMANITARIAN EVENTS OF 2003

  1. Susan says:
    February 8, 2004 at 14:08

    “none of them involves..resources of stategic importance..”Do you have a cell phone? Do you know that the heavy metals used in cell phone batteries and the electronic guts of many other technologies come from places like the Congo? West and Central Africa have many strategic resources of importance to the US and the rest of the west. The entire conflict in the Congo is a result of different factions fighting over control of these valuable metals, as well as, of course, the gem trade, and further south, coffee and cocoa beans. The vast majority of Africa’s natural resource wealth serves some purpose in the west, just as it did in colonial times.

  2. Anonymous says:
    February 8, 2004 at 14:16

    According to a recent Industry Canada study, “A Regional Perspective on the Canada-U.S. Standard of Living comparison,” standards of living in Canadian provinces are well behind those of U.S. states, based on data collected from 1992 to 1997. For Canadians who have patted themselves on the back for a perceived higher-than-average standard of living than in the U.S., these findings come as a shock. In fact, only seven states, recorded standards of living below the Canadian average. In one third of U.S. states, the standard of living is more than 25 % higher than the Canadian average, according to the report, and it is more than 50 % higher in Delaware, Alaska, Connecticut and Wyoming. In Canada, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland all rank below Mississippi, the state with the lowest standard of living. Although employment levels have reached all-time highs in many Canadian communities, cooling economies, rising health care costs and skill shortages may cause standards to drop further. Standard of living and quality of housing are so closely linked, Canadians may find their home life under further attack in the coming decades. The best Canadian performer, Alberta, ranked 18th among the combined 50 states and 10 provinces, while Ontario

  3. Dick says:
    February 8, 2004 at 14:47

    Whilst it may not quite match Time or Newsweek for circulation or availability, the monthly mag New Internationalist provides an excellent window onto that alternative world within which these events take place.

  4. Dave Pollard says:
    February 8, 2004 at 14:49

    Susan: Point taken. I would still argue that if the materials that are obtained from Africa and Latin America and Korea were as strategically critical as Middle East oil is, we in the West would be much more interested in getting these countries into a ‘stable’ state to protect our sources of supply.Anonymous ‘ERC@yahoo.com‘: Excuse me, but what exactly has this to do with the subject of my post? Quite aside from the fact that GDP is a completely discredited measure of standard of living or quality of life (I grew up in Manitoba and have visited Mississippi and I can tell you there is absolutely no comparison). As for productivity, the largest factors in the productivity differences between states and provinces of North America are (1) the average work week and (2) the proportion of families where both parents work. There are some people in this world, believe it or not, who think having both spouses work long hard hours for low wages isn’t nirvana. But then I suspect you’re a Republican.

  5. Dave Pollard says:
    February 8, 2004 at 15:02

    Dick: Thanks. They have an interesting website, too.

  6. David Jones says:
    February 8, 2004 at 16:05

    As Elmer Fudd said, “Be vewwy vewwy careful when you talk about standard of living comparisons.” (I’m sure he said that.)Comparing the Great Intangible (AKA Canada) with other countries (e.g. USA) is fraught with problems. The fact Canadians don’t live at Wal-Mart and dine at McDonald’s does not mean they have a (relatively) lower standard of living. Maybe some (many?) Canadians rate libraries higher than Wal-Marts. Maybe some rate home cooking higher than fast food or take out. Well, about take out I have to confess to the attraction of a certain local Chinese take-out that is just so spectacular ……………..

  7. Marijo says:
    February 8, 2004 at 18:08

    This is the second blog giving me vertigo this weekend. Are you copying that Science guy?

  8. mark says:
    February 9, 2004 at 17:29

    has anyone seen Tibet on a world map recently ???

  9. Wendy says:
    February 10, 2004 at 17:02

    This is a great post … it is important to keep these issues in mind. I checked out the website for The New Internationalist and was so impressed I subscribed. I had not heard of this magazine before so it’s a welcome discovery. I believe it is important for us to to research issues and your website is part of my daily research – thanks for all the information you generously share.

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