Written by Jess Woodburn (Human Rights Correspondent)
Edited by Ena Saracevic (Social Affairs Editor)
Have you noticed that the media has an unspoken bias against developing and undeveloped countries in the world? When Russia's war against Ukraine began, the media spoke positively about giving aid and calling out UK citizens to home Ukrainian Refugees, and rightly so. However, when families have risked their lives crossing the English Channel to reach the UK, they are slandered and vilified within the media and by our Government.
Countries such as Ethiopia; Myanmar and Syria, to name a few, are going through gargantuan crises. As well as this, Yemen is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in years; more than 12 million children are at risk of war, hunger and disease. Every person I have spoken to about this has either had no idea, or very limited knowledge.
Why is this widespread devastation being ignored? Who picks and chooses which countries' desolation is worthy of our aid and attention, more so than others?
Media Coverage
From BBC News alone there are 50 pages on their website of information covering the Ukrainian War. Articles range from accounts of victims to breaking news. The war has even been provided with its own bookmark at the top of the page.
Yemen has received seven pages. And yet, more than 10,200 children have been killed or maimed, and thousands more are being recruited into the fighting. Where is our compassion, our attention, our aid? Are we offering our homes to Yemeni refugees fleeing the horrors of a war that has plagued their country for eight years?
The consequences of focused media attention
When the media focuses on one conflict more so than others it can impact the world's response. This can then have problematic consequences. When the media turns its attention to a certain area it creates pressure on the Government to respond or act in a certain way. In situations regarding humanitarian crises, pressure will be applied to the government to provide more humanitarian aid to one country over others.
This can be problematic as, although countries like Ukraine deserve our aid, some countries are struggling more economically; and therefore aid could be used to more drastically improve conditions.
Understandably, a government cannot simply provide aid to every country in need, however, a large proportion of Western countries have media focused predominantly on the Ukrainian War, and therefore a larger proportion of aid has been awarded to one country. As a consequence, other countries such as Yemen and Ethiopia are being neglected when resources and humanitarian aid can be shared with a more equitable approach.
People in these countries had thriving passions and relationships which have since been destroyed. They deserve as much attention as we have provided to Ukraine. They deserve safety, comfort, food, warmth, and stability. We can provide that, and yet many are unaware of their situation.
UK Foreign aid allocation
The UK currently spends approximately £11.5 billion each year on aid, after recently cutting the budget in 2021. Since the Ukrainian war began, in February, the UK has sent over £1.5 billion of humanitarian aid and economic support. However, the UK has only sent £1 billion to Yemen since 2015. The Conservatives' commitments to aid many countries have fallen in recent years. Their aid to Yemen in their humanitarian crisis has dropped from £160 million in 2020/2021, to £88 million in 2022/23.
The Sahel Crisis
This region in Africa is facing indiscriminate attacks and widespread human rights violations; including gender-based violence, as well as violence against children. Covid-19 has pushed 6 million into extreme poverty, and 4.8 million into acute malnutrition; 1.6 million children are severely malnourished - 1 million being children under five.
29.9 million in total are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance; why hasn’t this been widely reported? This amount of people is roughly the size of the entire population of Peru.
Millions are suffering and yet this is the first I have heard about this crisis. We should be doing better.
Who pulls the media's strings? Why hasn’t any attention been brought to this issue?
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