The COVID-19 pandemic has further escalated Syria’s severe economic crisis, which is marked by currency depreciation and peak rates of unemployment and poverty. While the global economic decline decreases remittances and disrupts trade, lockdown measures across Syria have brought local economies to a halt. With an ongoing war economy, corruption, poor governance, and insufficient funds in all areas of the country today, none of the various authorities is putting meaningful compensation mechanisms in place to protect ordinary Syrians from paying the price for this global emergency.

More than 80 percent of the Syrian population today live below the poverty line, and many of those working are confined to the informal economy. Not only are the most vulnerable segments of Syrian society the most at risk of contracting and spreading the disease, but they also have the least access to medical treatment, meaningful protection, and socio-economic compensation. COVID-19 has reached Syria at a time of severe hardship, and has exacerbated existing social and economic injustice throughout the country.