UN: Global Humanitarian Supply Lines Disrupted by Middle East War Will Recover by 2027

The United Nations said Tuesday that even if the Middle East war stopped immediately, disrupted global humanitarian supply lines would not recover before 2027. Nearly 100 days have passed since the February 28 US-Israeli attacks on Iran that triggered the conflict. Jean-Cedric Meeus, chief of global transport and logistics for UNICEF, said the fallout extends far beyond the Middle East region.

"The disruption to the global humanitarian supply chain is impacting children across all the globe, with continued congestion in global supply chain routes and higher costs," Meeus told a press conference in Geneva. He spoke from Mogadishu in Somalia. Meeus said weeks of indirect US-Iran talks, threats and air strikes have failed to end the war or reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

"What begins like a disruption from lanes into the Middle East, the Hormuz Strait, spirals directly into humanitarian crisis," he said. For UNICEF, persistent delays and high operational costs amid a global funding crisis are already causing impossible choices, Meeus stated.

"Behind this cascading disruption is a simple but brutal equation," he said, with every extra dollar spent on transport meaning less money spent on aid for children.

Air freight capacity has tightened across the Middle East, some airlines have stopped serving certain African destinations, and port congestion is spreading across Africa, according to Meeus. Air freight costs for vaccines from India to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have increased by 50 to 70 percent. "There are so many ripple effects on the humanitarian supply chain," Meeus said.

Even if an agreement is reached and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, the situation will not improve before the end of the year for UNICEF's supply lines, he added.