Report based on the ICRC’s field experience analysing the humanitarian impact of urban infrastructure damage.
This new report is based on 30 years of ICRC work in urban conflict zones including Iraq, Gaza, Ukraine, Syria and Yemen. It warns that unless humanitarian agencies adopt a different approach to assisting urban populations in conflict, the human and social cost could be catastrophic, with the deterioration of critical infrastructure leaving people without essential services. When conflicts drag on, maintaining essential services can become simply too difficult and the damage can become too expensive to reverse. The report recommends that humanitarian agencies change their current approach, so as to minimize public health risks, the displacement of civilians and the costs of rebuilding and developing after the conflict has ended.
