‘If you don’t feed people, you feed conflict,’ UN chief tells Security Council
New York, US (PANA) - Conflict drives hunger, and when that turns to famine, that then drives conflict, the UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday, adding that “if you don’t feed people, you feed conflict”.
“When a country or region is gripped by conflict and hunger, they become mutually reinforcing…[and] cannot be resolved separately,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said via videoconference to the meeting which focused on how conflict and food security are interlinked.
And when hunger meets inequality, climate shocks, sectarian and ethnic tensions, together with grievances over resources, they then “spark and drive conflict”.
A UN statement said Guterres added that at the same time, conflict forces people to leave their homes, land and jobs; disrupts agriculture and trade; reduces access to vital resources like water and electricity; and also drives hunger.
The statement said at the end of 2020, more than 88 million people were suffering from acute hunger due to conflict and instability – a 20 per cent surge in one year – and 2021 projections point to a continuation of this “frightening trend”, according to the Secretary-General.
He warned the Council of multiple conflict-driven famines globally, with climate shocks and COVID-19 “adding fuel to the flames”.
“Without immediate action, millions of people will reach the brink of extreme hunger and death,” Mr Guterres said, noting that there are more than 30 million people in over three dozen countries, “just one step away” from famine.
He drew attention to hunger crises across the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, South Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan while pointing out that reduced humanitarian access threatens food insecurity, including in Tigray, Ethiopia.
The UN chief spotlighted that hunger and death begin long before the highest levels of food insecurity.
“We must anticipate, and act now,” he said, informing Ambassadors that he was setting up a High-Level Task Force on Preventing Famine, led by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock along with the World Food Programme (WFP), “to mobilise support to the most affected countries”.
Other Inter-Agency Standing Committee members will be involved as needed, including the World Health Organization, UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women.
-0- PANA MA 12March2021
