As the war in Ukraine worsens, repercussions can be felt in uninvolved countries. Somalia, a country that has suffered from war, droughts, famine, and other issues like this, is an example of a country negatively impacted by the war in Ukraine. Further adding to the seriousness of the drought is that “last year’s 53% of the food received in Somalia (from donations) came from Ukraine.” Now, as a result of the war, the shipping ports in Ukraine are closed, and Ukraine, even if they wanted to, is not in a position to donate food. Coinciding with the war, Somalia has faced its worst drought in almost 40 years, and the people have suffered tremendously; in part because of the attention the international community has needed to place to the Ukraine issue.

Somalia has been “a longstanding recipient of funding from the international community and organizations like the United Nations or the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNCHA),” and much of their economy is dependent upon this aid. The issue is, that when other crises come about in the world the international bodies become spread thin and sometimes fixate on one issue over another. To illustrate the impact of the Ukraine war on the situation in Somalia the UNCHA “only 3.2% ($47.1m) of the required funding ($1.5bn) for its humanitarian response plan has been received so far.” This need for funding is extremely justified because the “United Nations (UN) projects that 4.6 million Somalians will not have enough food by May 2022,” which may lead to widespread famine, famine-related disease, and possibly deaths. Clearly, the funding to Somalia has been an indirect victim of this war because the support they need from the international community has been extremely delayed by this war. The Ukraine issue requires massive attention from the international community, and rightly so, but to the detriment of the Somali people.

Critiquing the response of the international community to Somalia is difficult because the Ukraine issue deserves massive attention, but there is countless humanitarian crisis outside Ukraine that cannot be overlooked. The ongoing drought and famine have been predicted to get worse and will continue to get worse so long as the funding they need is not raised. So, the main criticism that the international community must face for this issue is the lack of attention given to the issue, not in a purely monetary sense, but also the lack of attention given to the Somalian people. The lack of funding to Somalia results from the focus on Ukraine, but the greater international community may be completely unaware of how truly dire the situation has become for the people in Somalia. Yes, Ukraine, its citizens, immigrants, and the war itself must require massive attention given to it to ensure that the people at risk are being protected as much as possible against the tyranny of the Russians; this is undeniable.

However, the international community is failing the people of Somalia through the lack of funding because they committed to Somalia by saying they will provide them with $1.5 billion in funding. This is because they recognize Somalia as a state who is a victim of chronic underdevelopment and previous humanitarian crisis. They would not have made these commitments to Somalia if they did not recognize or believe that there was going to be a need for support to ensure that the people do not unfairly suffer because of the poor economy. Now that there is another major crisis in the world it seems as if this commitment to the Somalians has been pushed aside which is not right. Leaving aside the UN and its bodies, the war in Ukraine has not allowed Ukraine to continue to send food to Somalia as it had in the past, which means that their food imports have heavily decreased. Thus, the food in the country is extremely scarce or expensive to the point where the common person may be priced out of eating.

One of the main problems in critiquing this issue in Somalia, and finding a resolution is that the solution and the problem are heavily tied to the conflict in Ukraine. As the world has continued to become globalized, a situation in one state will impact the condition of another state, as demonstrated by what is happening in Somalia. Somalia has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, yet the condition of their state has been worsened because of it. As the Ukraine conflict has come during an age where the world is aware of how interconnected it is, the United Nations, or other NGOs or IGOs should have ways to continue to operate if something like the Ukraine war happens. There should be a way to continue to protect other people, like the Somalians, in a time when two countries are at war with one another and require major attention and commitment from the international community.

Now, the main question is: what can be done differently to ensure that the people of Somalia are getting the funding and attention they deserve during this humanitarian issue? As has been identified the current cause of the lack of funding and attention is partially due to the Ukraine conflict. The solution is not to leave Ukraine and its people to fend for themselves for the sake of protecting the Somalians because this will just be to the detriment of Ukrainians. One solution is that the United Nations and international organizations alike make use of the vast number of departments to split attention and resources. The UN has a variety of divisions within its governance structure that are tasked with specific assignments, so why can they not create one which is strictly focused on humanitarian support? This division can look after humanitarian crises outside of war, such as what is happening in Somalia, and the benefit of it being its separate department is that you can give it its budget, powers etc., to decrease the chance of outside factors interfering with the assistance to those in need. The structure of the UN allows for division to ensure that its promise, to protect the people of the world, is kept.

The world is no longer in a time where incidents are isolated from one another, so organizations tasked with protecting people cannot assume that outside factors like war will not have ripple effects. However, to help the people in Somalia right now the solution is simple: divert funds to help get them through this period of drought and prevent the situation from getting worse. Keep supporting Ukraine, but do not forget about other obligations they have to the world and the people who are struggling. The whole goal of the international community is to protect people and their rights, along with ensuring that they are not subject to sub-human conditions like droughts, famine, and things of this nature.

Thus, even though the Ukraine issue requires constant attention and support, as it should, there are people like the Somalians who should not be made to suffer as a by-product of a war to which they have no ties. Although this war was an unforeseen circumstance that the UN could not have predicted when it made its commitments to Somalia, it does not relieve them from this commitment; especially while they are facing such terrible conditions. They have made this $1.5 billion commitment to the people, and thus it is now their responsibility to follow through with it because if they do not people may die. As predicted, almost 4.3 million people will be impacted by the drought as soon as May.

The overarching issue at hand is not simply the war in Ukraine, but rather the unpreparedness and inability to function when a conflict like it arrives. As has been mentioned the world is aware of how globalized it has become which means its organizations cannot continue to operate under the assumption that all the situations, conflicts, or humanitarian disasters which will occur, will be isolated incidents with few repercussions outside of the state. They must evolve to create a system that can handle the interconnectedness of the world to ensure that the people who need support, like those in Somalia, do not suffer because of a conflict that have no part of elsewhere.