·       Sudan: the civil war has caused tens of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people, but barely receives coverage outside humanitarian reports
Ethiopia (Tigray): between 2020 and 2022, the war left up to 600,000 dead, one of the most devastating figures of the 21st century, and yet it barely echoed in international media
Yemen: a prolonged war with tens of thousands of direct victims and hundreds of thousands of indirect ones, reduced in the headlines to a “protracted conflict”
Myanmar: after the 2021 coup and the repression of minorities, tens of thousands of victims have accumulated, with little international pressure

The silence of those who should speak
Most striking is that even global moral figures such as Pope Francis have shown uneven attention

In 2017, during his visit to Myanmar, he avoided pronouncing the word “Rohingya,” despite that minority suffering systematic persecution, earning him criticism for diplomatic silence
During the worst of the Tigray war in Ethiopia (2020–2022), which left hundreds of thousands dead, there were no concrete references to this conflict in his public messages, limited instead to generic mentions of Africa or the “Horn of Africa,” which is very serious given the massacre of Christians that took place
By contrast, the Pope has made multiple direct interventions on Gaza and Israel, and on Ukraine, even going so far as to call for the opening of an international investigation into a possible genocide in Gaza
If the highest moral authority of the Catholic Church adopts a selective discourse conditioned by diplomatic considerations, how can we expect greater coherence from governments, heads of state or the media, where economic and geopolitical interests weigh even more heavily?

It is sad but everything is a matter of interests
The explanation seems clear: human suffering alone does not generate international attention unless it is accompanied by strategic or economic interests
Ukraine is a bulwark against Russia and an energy hub
Gaza and Israel directly affect the stability of the Middle East and Western politics
But Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia or Myanmar are not key pieces in the markets or in the military alliances of the Western powers

The contrast between visible wars and forgotten wars reveals an uncomfortable truth: the universality of human rights is subordinated to the hierarchy of political and economic interests

The victims of Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen or Myanmar are equal in dignity to those of Ukraine or Gaza, but they do not receive the same protection, the same visibility or the same solidarity. As long as the world selects its tragedies according to what “trades on the markets,” millions will remain condemned to silence and oblivion

·       Sudan: the civil war has caused tens of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people, but barely receives coverage outside humanitarian reports
Ethiopia (Tigray): between 2020 and 2022, the war left up to 600,000 dead, one of the most devastating figures of the 21st century, and yet it barely echoed in international media
Yemen: a prolonged war with tens of thousands of direct victims and hundreds of thousands of indirect ones, reduced in the headlines to a “protracted conflict”
Myanmar: after the 2021 coup and the repression of minorities, tens of thousands of victims have accumulated, with little international pressure

The silence of those who should speak
Most striking is that even global moral figures such as Pope Francis have shown uneven attention

In 2017, during his visit to Myanmar, he avoided pronouncing the word “Rohingya,” despite that minority suffering systematic persecution, earning him criticism for diplomatic silence
During the worst of the Tigray war in Ethiopia (2020–2022), which left hundreds of thousands dead, there were no concrete references to this conflict in his public messages, limited instead to generic mentions of Africa or the “Horn of Africa,” which is very serious given the massacre of Christians that took place
By contrast, the Pope has made multiple direct interventions on Gaza and Israel, and on Ukraine, even going so far as to call for the opening of an international investigation into a possible genocide in Gaza
If the highest moral authority of the Catholic Church adopts a selective discourse conditioned by diplomatic considerations, how can we expect greater coherence from governments, heads of state or the media, where economic and geopolitical interests weigh even more heavily?

It is sad but everything is a matter of interests
The explanation seems clear: human suffering alone does not generate international attention unless it is accompanied by strategic or economic interests
Ukraine is a bulwark against Russia and an energy hub
Gaza and Israel directly affect the stability of the Middle East and Western politics
But Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia or Myanmar are not key pieces in the markets or in the military alliances of the Western powers

The contrast between visible wars and forgotten wars reveals an uncomfortable truth: the universality of human rights is subordinated to the hierarchy of political and economic interests

The victims of Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen or Myanmar are equal in dignity to those of Ukraine or Gaza, but they do not receive the same protection, the same visibility or the same solidarity. As long as the world selects its tragedies according to what “trades on the markets,” millions will remain condemned to silence and oblivion