NGOs Call For $5.5 BN to Save 34 Million From Famine
More than 260 non-governmental organisations signed an open letter
Tuesday urging governments to donate $5.5 billion to prevent famine from
reaching 34 million people in 2021.
The sum was called for by the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP)
and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in March to swiftly scale up action
to avert famine.
The NGOs said donations so far this year had been a mere fraction of
what was required to prevent situations from worsening in hunger hotspots
around the world.
"We call on you to
provide the additional $5.5 billion needed for urgent food assistance to reach
more than 34 million girls, boys, women and men around the globe who are a step
away from famine," the open letter said.
"This assistance must
begin immediately and reach as directly as possible the people most in need,
now, so they can take action to feed themselves today and in the future."
The letter was penned by NGOs working with an estimated 270 million
people "facing hunger, starvation or famine all over the world".
They include Oxfam, Christian Aid, World Vision, Tearfund, Save the
Children and Care International.
- 'No place for famine' -
"In Yemen, Afghanistan,
Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Honduras, Venezuela, Nigeria,
Haiti, Central African Republic, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Sudan and beyond we help
people who are doing all they can to simply get through one more day," the
letter said.
"These people are not
starving, they are being starved.
"It is human actions that
are driving famine and hunger and it is our actions that can stop the worst
impacts," the NGOs insisted.
"There is no place for
famine and starvation in the 21st century. History will judge us all by the
actions we take today."
The WFP and FAO call issued last month sought to avert famine through
measures including humanitarian food assistance and cash transfers.
They said the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity had
remained persistently above 100 million over the previous four years.
"In 2019, the figure rose
sharply to 135 million across 58 countries, driven by more conflict, climate
extremes and economic turbulence. This number has since dramatically increased
including due to the compounding effect of the Covid-19 pandemic," the UN agencies
said.
The WFP estimated that up to 270 million people were acutely food
insecure or at high risk at the outset of 2021.
The FAO's Food Price Index was 2.1 percent higher in March than in
February, marking the 10th consecutive monthly rise and taking the index to its
highest level since June 2014.
It was led by strong increases in the prices for vegetable oils, meat
and dairy products.
- 'Reverse these decisions':
Oxfam -
Oxfam International's executive director Gabriela Bucher said: "The
richest countries are slashing their food aid even as millions of people go
hungry; this is an extraordinary political failure. They must urgently reverse
these decisions."
The UN has described Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
At a pledging conference last month, the UN sought to raise $3.85
billion from more than 100 governments and donors to address that crisis, but
only $1.7 billion was offered.
Famine could become part of war-torn Yemen's "reality" in
2021, it warned.
Save the Children's chief executive Inger Ashing also decried the lack
of funds raised for Yemen, a country "at a tipping point".
"We have warned donors
over and over again -- their inaction is leading to death," she said.
"That thousands of children will be dying of hunger and disease in 2021 is a political choice."
