I've thought some more about this, and it strikes me that the song was aimed at North America and Western Europe, NOT at the people who were suffering. Like it or not, the majority of people in those countries celebrate Christmas as opposed to any other religious celebration at this time of year (or at least they did at the time the song was released).

I think the artists were simply trying to tug on Western heart-strings to get people to open their wallets. (Very sad that that's what it takes, but that's a whole other post).