SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Humanitarian aid organizations fear that a prolonged war in Iran and strikes in surrounding countries could set off more economic hardship and a new international refugee crisis. Syria's long civil war displaced more than half of that country's population of 21 million. Iran has about 90 million people. Ninette Kelley is chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council and joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
NINETTE KELLEY: It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
SIMON: The U.N.'s Refugee Agency estimates over 3 million people have already been internally displaced in Iran, an additional million in Lebanon. Are neighboring countries - Iraq, Turkey or Syria - prepared for that?
KELLEY: It's not clear, and it's not clear whether or not those outflows are indeed going to happen. But certainly within both Lebanon and Iran, they're having profound implications. And it's creating great hardship not just for people who have been displaced, but disruption within the countries and difficulties for the humanitarian agencies that respond to these needs.
SIMON: Well, help us understand those difficulties.
KELLEY: Well, first of all, it creates million more - millions more people who are in need of humanitarian assistance - people who are wounded, who are dispossessed, who are unhoused. And it comes at a time when international humanitarian assistance has been - the funding for it has been slashed. As I'm sure you know, the U.S. announced last year that it was cutting international funding for international aid agencies by 75%, and other donors have come in to do the same. So this has really hobbled humanitarian agencies and their ability to respond to these crises. We've also got a situation of the war disrupting air and shipping travel routes. Fuel costs are going up. And this affects the humanitarian system in profound ways as well because it increases the ability - it increases the cost and inhibits the ability to get aid to affected populations, whether they be in the Middle East or elsewhere.
SIMON: And let me ask you specifically about food 'cause the World Food Programme estimates half of Iran's population is likely to face acute hunger if the war continues. That would be over 40 million people. Can agencies meet those needs without political solutions like sanctions relief?
KELLEY: Well, it's just such an interesting question, Scott, for many reasons. One is that Iran has greatly controlled the ability of humanitarian agencies or any external agencies, foreign agencies working within Iran. They have tended to do most of the work themselves. I think it's important to mention that they have 1.2 million Afghan refugees who are registered with UNHCR, and then...
SIMON: Yeah.
KELLEY: ...Probably another 3 million. And they have not received a lot of external humanitarian assistance. So that's one big consideration. But of course, international sanctions make it very difficult for international agencies to work within Iran - coupled, of course, with the disruption in air traffic and shipping corridors, which create logistical barriers, not to mention constant bombardment, which inhibits access. So it's really complicated situation within Iran. A little more straightforward, for example, in Lebanon, where international aid agencies are able to work. They work with the government. But both now are really hobbled by an inability to have the humanitarian funding needed to meet the needs of the affected populations.
SIMON: And specifically, what's the effect of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz?
KELLEY: Well, again, that has affected the shipping routes, and there's also the air traffic and raising fuel prices. So this impacts humanitarian assistance delivery worldwide.
SIMON: President Trump said yesterday that he's considering - his quote - "winding down military actions in Iran." If the war does end soon, will the world still be concerned with people who are displaced?
KELLEY: I don't know. I hope they will be, but we've seen a retrenchment in views on displaced persons. And we can only hope that some compassion is injected back into people's consciousness in the future.
SIMON: Ninette Kelley is chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council. Thank you so much for being with us.
KELLEY: Thank you very much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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