YouSaid · the spoken record

Beasley

lines on the record: 81
first: 2018-03-23
most recent: 2022-09-15
sittings or episodes: 7
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I urge the Council to show the leadership that the world urgently needs right now. Some Council members have stepped up to provide generous funding for emergency food assistance, and that has helped our teams to avert famine. Others need to do the same. However, beyond funding, we urgently need political solutions to end these wars. In the meantime, we need access to reach all those in need. We need the Council’s help with both of those tasks. I want to remind everyone that I warned the Security Council in April 2020 (see S/2020/340, annex II) that we were then facing famine and starvation of biblical proportions. The Council stepped up with funding and a tremendous response, and we averted catastrophe. We are on the edge once again, and even worse. We must do all that we can — all hands on deck, with every fibre of our bodies.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“Compared with just 12 months ago, food prices are now 70 per cent higher in the north of Yemen and 40 per cent higher in the south. We at the WFP hope to feed approximately 18 million people, which will obviously be one of the biggest humanitarian programmes of all time. However, since the start of this year, our cost of doing business in Yemen has risen by 30 per cent, from $1.97 billion to $2.6 billion. As a result, as members can imagine, we have had to cut the assistance we provide. As of September, 13 million people will now be receiving two-thirds rations. With fuel costs and the cost of transportation logistics, our operations have increased globally by more than $800 million per year. The conflicts that rage in so many parts of our world today are pushing millions of blameless civilians ever closer to starvation and famine.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“We have seen what is happening in Haiti today. Now South Sudan is facing its highest rates of acute hunger since independence in 2011. Some 7.7 million people, more than 60 per cent of the population, are facing critical or worse levels of food insecurity. Without political solutions to end the violence and substantial investment in humanitarian relief programmes, many people in South Sudan will die. Finally, in Yemen, the humanitarian situation is deteriorating despite the fragile truce, due to the worsening economic outlook. The conflict in Ukraine is stoking inflation, owing to Yemen’s almost total reliance on food imports, and thereby pushing more people into extreme poverty, as accelerating inflation erodes the value of already meagre incomes.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“That encourages migration, extremism and exploitation and makes famine more likely. Meanwhile, in South Sudan, the situation is even worse, as the conflict continues and is compounded by flooding in seven of the country’s 10 states to fuel a food- security crisis that is truly becoming catastrophic. There is widespread population displacement. A changing climate has rendered previously fertile agricultural land unusable and food prices have doubled, while the value of the currency has depreciated by almost a third since February. That has all combined to push basic foodstuffs beyond the reach of most of the population. At the same time, as the Council is aware, fighting among armed groups has intensified and humanitarian agencies in the country are being targeted by armed groups and subjected to looting and extortion.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“The recent theft of WFP fuel supplies in Tigray does not make our task any easier. The harvest is next month, and the lack of fertilizer means it is likely to be poor. We need to get food to people in northern Ethiopia now. In north-eastern Nigeria, a toxic mix of escalating violence, displacement, damaged livelihoods and soaring food prices is clearly fuelling a growing food- insecurity crisis. The current lean season is coming to an end. There are an estimated 4.1 million food-insecure people in the north-east, half a million of whom are in inaccessible areas. We are hoping to reach 2.1 million people across north-eastern Nigeria. But as the gap between needs and resources grows wider, as many as 1 million people may not receive the food assistance they need.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“In northern Ethiopia, the resumption of fighting threatens to push many hungry, exhausted families over the edge. The humanitarian truce declared in March enabled the WFP and its partners to reach almost 5 million people in the Tigray area. But the recent outbreak of violence is threatening those humanitarian relief efforts just as families are struggling through the current lean season. Our assessment in Tigray shows that hunger has deepened. Some 5.2 million people — in other words, 89 per cent of the population — are food-insecure. Almost half are suffering from a severe lack of food. As the Council can imagine, our teams are working day and night to help those in need. But we need fuel, funding and the full movement of supplies across the lines of control to get help to where it is needed most.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“Here is what is incredibly troubling. Of the 345 million marching towards starvation, almost 50 million live in 45 countries that are knocking on famine’s door at IPC level 4. In 2007 and 2008, because of the high inflation and soaring food prices at the time, there were riots, protests and civil unrest in 48 nations. Today the economic factors we see are far worse. Despite the hard work on the Black Sea Grain Initiative and ongoing efforts to get Russian fertilizer, for example, back into the global markets, there is a real and dangerous risk of multiple famines this year. In 2023, the current food- price crisis could develop into a food-supply availability crisis if we do not act. Let me quickly touch on the countries on which the Council requested information.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“As 2022 began, we were already facing the perfect storm, due to emerging conflicts, COVID-19’s economic ripple effects, climate change, rising fuel prices — and then, just when one might think it could not get any worse, Ukraine. Since that conflict began, soaring food, fuel and fertilizer costs have driven an additional 70 million people closer to starvation. What was a wave of hunger is now a tsunami of hunger. In the 82 countries where the World Food Programme (WFP) currently operates, as many as 345 million people are now acutely food insecure. In other words, they are marching towards starvation — Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) levels 3, 4 and 5. That is two and a half times the number of acutely food-insecure people before the pandemic began. It is hard to believe that number was only 80 million just a few years ago.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“They can stay and starve, or they can leave and risk death for the chance of a better future in the United States. And that is just one corner of our planet. We know of similar stories driven by war in many other nations across the globe. We are here today to raise the alarm about those severe food crises, especially in Ethiopia, north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. And as my good friend Martin Griffiths said, there is also Somalia, which I would be remiss not to mention. I just returned from there, where Mr. Griffiths and I were just a week ago. As Council members know, we are already facing a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude, with the threat of mass starvation and famine growing constantly.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“Mr. Beasley: It is great to be with members of the Security Council, albeit on a truly sad occasion. This morning I returned from Central America, where I saw first-hand how conflict thousands of miles away on one continent is adding fuel to the flames of what is already a severe hunger crisis on another. During my visits to Guatemala and the Darién Gap, in Panama, I heard tragic stories from people migrating northward out of sheer desperation. The impact of climate crises and the ongoing economic ripple effects of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had already exhausted many families’ ability to cope, and now soaring prices, sparked by the global grain, fuel and fertilizer shortages and inflamed by the Ukraine conflict, have left them in despair. They literally have nothing left.”
2022-09-15 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9133 (2022) · source
“We averted destabilization over the past many years because many in the Chamber stepped up. We delivered, and we can do that again. There are things that have to happen, such as opening the ports, stabilizing the markets and increasing production around the world. We will get through this storm, but we must act. We must act with urgency, and that must be today.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“We have all been talking to ministers of agriculture and leaders to maximize production as fast as we can. How do we get fertilizers back out into the marketplace? The African Development Bank provided some statistics the other day that were frightening. Africa alone would need more than $2 billion worth of new fertilizer because of the costs, if it can get it at all, because smallholder farmers rely on it. That would mean a loss of approximately $11 billion worth of food production in Africa alone, which is already struggling because of that perfect storm we are talking about. It is time that we and the leaders of the world do everything that we can to bring the markets to stability, because things will get worse. Nonetheless, I have hope. We averted famine.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“Truly, failure to open the ports in the Odesa region will be a declaration of war on global food security and will result in famine, destabilization and mass migration around the world. Many here today have been out in the field and have talked to the poorest of the poor. I have had more mothers tell me “Mr. Beasley, my children have not been fed in two weeks”, “My husband had to join an extremist group just to stay alive”, “We have to migrate” or “We have to choose between heating oil and cooking oil”. When a mother has to choose between her child freezing to death or starving her child to death, something is wrong, especially when there is so much wealth on the planet today — more than $430 trillion worth of wealth. The problem will only get worse because production around the world will decrease.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“As the Secretary-General clearly stated, we are now reaching approximately 4 million people inside Ukraine. In fact, we are scaling up to 900,000 people on cash-based transfers as we speak, which will put liquidity back into the marketplace, but that does not solve the problem outside Ukraine. That is why we must get those ports running. We must empty the silos so that we can help stabilize the food crisis we are facing around the world. More than 36 nations receive 50 per cent or more of their grain from that region. When we consider those nations, in addition to the 43 nations I mentioned, coupled with other economic indices and debt because of the coronavirus disease, we begin to see why the world is very fragile. We must therefore respond.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“When a country like Ukraine, which grows enough food for 400 million people, is out of the market, it creates market volatility, which we are now seeing. In 2007 and 2008, we all witnessed what happens when pricing gets out of control. More than 40 nations had to deal with political unrest, riots and protests. We are already seeing riots and protests taking place as we speak in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan and Peru. We have already seen destabilizing dynamics in the Sahel, in Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad. Those are only signs of things to come. We have enough historical experience to understand the consequences when we fail to act. When a nation that is the breadbasket of the world becomes a nation with the longest breadlines in the world, we know that we have a problem.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“What is extremely troubling is that of those 276 million people marching towards starvation, struggling to find food on a daily basis and living from hand to mouth every day, there are 49 million in 43 countries, as the Secretary-General very clearly stated, who are knocking on famine’s door. If we overlay those 49 million people in those 43 countries along with economic indices because of economic deterioration over time, including the droughts, we begin to see the 43 countries that could very well be destabilized and face famine that would result not just in deaths, but in unrest and mass migration. We are truly facing an unprecedented crisis. Food prices are our number-one problem right now, as a result of the perfect storm in 2022, but in 2023 the problem is very likely to be food availability.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“Then, when we really did think things could not get any worse, we had Ukraine. And as the Secretary-General alluded to, that comes in addition to areas that are struggling with droughts and famine knocking on the door, such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and more — I could go in a ring of fire around the world. In terms of those marching towards starvation, the numbers have escalated, from 80 million to 135 million before COVID-19 and then, because of COVID-19, 135 million became 276 million. Because of the Ukrainian crisis, that number will rise to 323 million at least.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“Mr. Beasley: I would like to thank the Secretary- General for his comments. When the Nobel Committee awarded the World Food Programme the 2020 Peace Prize, it was clearly a message to the world that food security is critical to peace and stability all over the world. What we are seeing now is an extraordinary destruction of the values that we hold so dear — feeding the poor and helping those in need around the world. Before the Ukraine crisis struck, I had been saying to leaders around the world that we were facing an unprecedented storm, a perfect storm caused by conflict, climate change and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Just when we thought it could not get any worse, the situation in Ethiopia worsened. Once again, we thought it could not get any worse, but then the situation in Afghanistan worsened.”
2022-05-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9036 (2022) · source
“Many nation States have been stepping up in ways they have not done before. Let me be clear: if we do not step up and respond, we will pay a price that will be 1,000 times more expensive than stepping in and doing what is necessary. For example, in Syria, we can feed a Syrian for $0.50 per day. If that same Syrian ends up in Berlin or Brussels, the cost is $70 or more per day. If we act now to end the conflict and address the needs, we can avoid famine, the destabilization of nations and mass migration. If we do not, the world will pay a mighty price. The last thing we want to do at the World Food Programme is to take food away from hungry children to give to starving children. Please, let us make certain that we can reach them all.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“We see that it is, in fact, a pricing problem and perhaps an availability problem if we cannot offset what we will lose inside of Ukraine and Russia. These are extremely serious issues. As we talk to leaders around the world, we are asking how to respond quickly to do the things necessary to minimize the impact globally, as well as in Ukraine itself. If we consider the Arab Spring of 2008, 2011 and 2012 and the economic indices and hike in food prices at that time, we begin to see several similarities — except, quite frankly, it is much worse in some categories today than it was in those years. That is because now there is the war in Ethiopia, the crisis in Afghanistan and a climate crisis that is impacting the Sahel, for example. The months ahead will be extremely difficult.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“Egypt is dependent upon Ukraine for 85 per cent of its grain. In 2020, Lebanon was dependent on Ukraine for 81 per cent of its grain. I could keep providing examples around the world. That is then compounded by the lack of fertilizer- based products that come out of Belarus and Russia. If fertilizer is not put on crops, the yield will be at least 50 per cent diminished. We are therefore looking at what could be a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe in the months ahead. That is why, when I was talking to the Ministers and Secretaries of Agriculture of the Group of Seven, I asked how quickly the world agricultural community could offset the reduction we could expect out of Ukraine and Russia in terms of supply and demand. At one time, we were primarily concerned about pricing.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“As members have heard, Ukraine and Russia produce 30 per cent of the global supply of wheat; 20 per cent of the global supply of maize and between 75 per cent and 80 per cent of sunflower seed oil. Members can begin to see the dynamic consequences. Fifty per cent of the grain that we buy comes from Ukraine. We were feeding125 million people before the conflict in Ukraine ever happened. Members can therefore assume the devastation that that will have on our operations alone. We already anticipate a $71 million increase in monthly expenses because of fuel costs, food costs and shipping costs. That is a total of $850 million, which means we will be able to reach 4 million fewer people just from expense costs alone. Then consider the devastation in countries such as Yemen and Egypt, which are dependent on Russian and Ukrainian wheat.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“Msuya was talking about so that we can reach the people who are in harm’s way and do not have access to food. We will be using cash-based transfers, as well as commodities, in-kind assistance and food itself, depending on the dynamics in each specific area. As members can imagine, Ukraine is not a small country. We are therefore prepositioning and moving food. We are working with the Government to move it either by train or by truck, whatever it takes. We are also working with the Government to make certain that we have the truck drivers we need to do what is necessary to reach the people in need. Let me capsulize Ukraine and now turn to outside of Ukraine.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“We have to do everything we can to stabilize the food supply chain system and reach as many people as we possibly can. As members can imagine, the farmers are fighting on the front lines. For the next four weeks, it will be planting season for maize. Who will tend the crops? It will then be time to harvest, let us say, wheat, in June and July. Farmers are on the front lines, and therefore we start worrying not just about what happens inside Ukraine, but also what will happen outside Ukraine. Obviously, we are appealing to everyone involved to deconflict and give us the access we need. We can reach most of the places around Ukraine in several different ways right now, but we cannot reach other places, such as Mariupol. We need the access that Ms.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“One of the things we need to be careful of in the context of our concerns about Ukraine is not to neglect the Sahel, North Africa, the rest of Africa and the Middle East. Otherwise, there will be massive migration coming from all sides of Europe. That is why this is a crisis on top of a crisis. We all know that the ordinary, loving and welcoming arms of strangers and neighbours in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova has been remarkable. I have been there three times in the past few weeks alone, seeing people’s experiences first hand. One can say that the 3.5 to 4 million people who have made it to the outside are the lucky ones, because they are getting food, shelter, help and some degree of hope out of harm’s way. However, there are 40 million people inside of Ukraine.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“This conflict is not just decimating Ukraine and the region, but will have a global impact beyond anything we have seen since the Second World War. I would like to touch upon a couple of issues inside Ukraine. We have now reached about 1 million people. Over the next four weeks, we will reach 2.5 million people and, by the end of May, we will have reached 4 million people. By the end of June, we hope to reach about 6 million people on any given day, week or month, so to speak. The price tag that we are looking at, for food security inside Ukraine alone, is about $500 million for the first three months. We are short about $300 million, and we will therefore need to step up our efforts.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“Mr. Beasley: It is good to hear from Ms. Joyce Msuya, and I will try not to repeat much of what she said. It is simply hard to believe that things could get any worse around the world than they were before the Ukraine crisis. Because of fuel prices, food prices and shipping costs, we were already beginning to cut rations for millions of children and families around the world in countries such as Yemen, where we had just cut 8 million people down to 50 per cent rations and are now looking to go to 0 rations, and others such as the Niger, Mali and Chad — and on and on. Now we are talking about a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe. Ukraine has gone from the breadbasket of the world to bread lines. We would never have dreamed that anything like this would be possible.”
2022-03-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9008 (2022) · source
“But I must say that we are reaching the point where no amount of money in the world will truly alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people. The people in Yemen, the people at WFP and our partners do a heroic job, working hard day and night, risking their lives in order to make success stories and keep people alive. But when war destroys everything - lives, livelihoods, economies - there is only so much that we can do. We are fast approaching those limits. Please, for the Yemeni people, stop this war, find peaceful ways to settle the differences and end the suffering. We cannot give up. We owe the people of Yemen nothing less.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“However, donors must be even more generous because we need more help. Many of our humanitarian partners are not getting the assistance that they need. In order to keep reaching the most vulnerable, we need $1.2 billion over the next months. We are only 43 per cent funded at the moment. Our partners also need more. WFP has a critical role to play in the humanitarian response but if our partners do not have the support that they need, it does not matter how much food we deliver - lives will be lost. I have a few requests today on behalf of the teachers, doctors, nurses, mothers, fathers and, last but not least, the little girls and boys, who just want to eat, play and learn. We request Member States to continue to be generous with their contributions. We ask that those that have made pledges honour them.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“We know that the school system has all but collapsed because of the war, but we are doing our part to ensure that children still receive an education. This year alone, we were able to provide nutrition in schools for more than 700,000 children. Those are meals that give parents a little extra comfort, knowing that their children will get fed, in addition to what we are able to provide them at home. That keeps the children in school, and it is an investment in the future onemen. At some point, when the guns go silent, and Yemen rebuilds, it is those little boys and girls who will turn Yemen into the country that it deserves to be. We are grateful to everyone for all the support of the donors, many of whom are around this table today, whose generosity enable us to do what we do.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“We tripled food assistance in the hardest-hit districts. It did the job. In 29 of the 45 districts where we were able to collect data, we can now confirm that none are in the catastrophic phase anymore. While we have seen those numbers go down, other numbers - for those who have gone from insecure to more insecure to more severe - are going up. The numbers are still bad and they are getting worse. In general, we are just keeping more and more people from death. That is just one success story among many others. I want to thank those that have been extremely generous, such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and others, in allowing us to achieve these objectives. Let me recount another success story, because there are so many bad stories.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“That is 20 million people - boys, girls, men and women. Ten million of them are severely food insecure. They do not know where their next meal will come from as they march towards starvation. Every day Yemenis are making impossible choices just to survive. That is the toll that conflict and war collect. Even in the most difficult circumstances, WFP continues to save lives, working with its other humanitarian partners. As I have said before, we have scaled up our operations and, even despite the suspension, we have been able to increase the number of beneficiaries to more than 11 million, hopefully 12 million by the end of this month. We hope to continue to provide assistance. Let me add that in December, we learned that 250,000 people in Yemen were facing catastrophic food security conditions. That is as bad as it can get.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“But let me be extremely clear: if we do not reach an agreement or if an agreement is reached and progress is not made on implementation, because we have been at this point before, we will find ourselves in the same position in which we are today but probably worse. Let us hope and pray that everyone, on all sides, will do what is good for the people of Yemen. We will keep the Council informed. The suspension has been the headline story from Yemen over the past month. But the real story has been, and should continue to be, the humanitarian catastrophe that continues to unfold in Yemen. Lives are lost, livelihoods are gone and, for far too many, the hope for a better future grows dimmer every day. Approximately 30 million people live in Yemen, and more than two thirds of them are food insecure.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“While the agreement will help to ensure that the right people get the food, it will also allow the accountability framework required to start cash programmes. Cash will help to stimulate the local economy and to stabilize the rial, which will have a multiplier effect, bringing benefits to everyone in Yemen, not only the 12 million to whom we are providing assistance on a daily basis. That means another 18 million people, who now get their food through the market. The rial will stabilize. It will help mothers to provide more food for children, which will help us in so many ways, as Mark Lowcock has alluded to.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“I want to thank Martin Griffiths and Resident Coordinator Lise Grande, who are on the ground. It has been tough. There has been a great deal of hard work taking place in the past few weeks and the past 24 hours. But we must find a definitive solution. I believe that we will get there. I am hopeful that we will. As I said a little earlier, I have just been assured by this last-minute text message that they are meeting as we speak. I was hoping that we would have a signature before I got to this point in my briefing, but we have not reached that signature. So the door is still open. But once that is resolved, we are ready to begin implementing the agreement immediately. We will have food back on the streets in Sana'a in a matter ofjust days. That is what the people of Yemen deserve and demand of us.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“We have explained our positions over and over and over, and we have looked for common ground. We have worked tirelessly to find solutions to accommodate the concerns that were raised and put forward workable proposals. That kind of work, as members of the Council well know, is not always so easy, but it is worth it. While we have yet to sign an agreement, I must say that we have made substantial progress in the discussions. In fact, I want to read this one text message to make sure that we did not get a signed agreement in the past few minutes. The bottom line I have just received is that we were negotiating all night long and, as of this moment, we have an agreement in principle, but it is not a signed agreement as of yet. A lot of progress has however been made in that regard. I want to thank Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi for his leadership.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“No one will be happier than all of us at the World Food Programme when we are no longer needed in Yemen because there is no more hunger. But until that time, when it comes to humanitarian assistance and issues, let us leave the politics out of it and uphold our obligations under international humanitarian law, which that specifically protects neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian action, including the delivery of essential items, including food. Despite all the difficulties that I outlined last month, we have continued to engage in good faith. For the sake of those who need our help the most in Yemen, we have kept the lines of communication open. We have offered dialogue at every level. We have had dozens upon dozens of meetings and engagements with the Ansar Allah authorities. We have listened to and heard their concerns.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“In fact, we expect to reach over 12 million by the end of this month. Following the suspension, we have also expanded our nutrition programmes inside the city of Sana'a, where the suspension is in place, to ensure that the most vulnerable children, pregnant women and nursing mothers have the food that they need to survive. I want to make it very, very clear to everyone that the responsibility to stop malnutrition and hunger lies first and foremost with those who are at war and not with WFP, any of our partners or the United Nations. We are in Yemen only for the sake of humanity, to offer our assistance when warring parties cannot or will not fulfil their responsibilities. We are not in it for us; we are in it for the innocent people and victims of war in Yemen.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“Because of the access challenges, food being diverted away from intended beneficiaries and the lack of accountability - and all the issues that I outlined last month - WFP made the difficult decision to begin a phased suspension of assistance in Yemen in late June. The suspension started in Sana'a and affected 850,000 women, men, girls and boys. As I am a father, those present can imagine how difficult a decision like that is. Not a day has gone by when I have not thought of the impact that suspending food assistance may have. I must tell the people in city of Sana'a, and through all of Yemen, that I am so sorry they are going through that. But let me add that despite the suspension, we have increased, as Mark Lowcock said, the number ofpeople who we have reached, from 10.6 million to 11.3 million, and we are continuing to scale up.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“Mr. Beasley: I thank you, Sir, for the opportunity to brief the Security Council today on the situation in Yemen. I would also like to thank my colleagues Mark Lowcock and Martin Griffiths for all their hard work and updates. When I briefed the Council about four weeks ago (see S/PV.8551), I said that the World Food Programme (WFP) was being prevented from feeding the hungriest people in Yemen. We were being prevented from operating independently, as we must, and much-needed food was not, in fact, reaching the right people who needed help. I ended my briefing by begging the Ansar Allah leadership, in front of the world, to just let WFP do what it does best - save lives. It is just that simple.”
2019-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8578 (2019) · source
“I said, "Scott, unfortunately, I have to think about that every day and every night. In Yemen we are fortunate enough to have the money that we need, we just do not have the access. We do not make this decision lightly. I am begging the Houthis and all those concerned to do everything within their power to let us do what we do best - save lives.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“At the end, as he was turning the microphone off, he looked at me. I had known Scott from the past, from politics. He said, "Governor, you have got the greatest job on Earth, keeping people alive". I said, "Scott, I do. I really do have the best job on Earth. But I want to say something to you that you have not thought of and it is going to bother you. Sadly, I do not go to bed every night thinking about the children we saved; I go to bed at night thinking about the children we could not save. When we do not have the access or the money that we need, my team has to choose which children eat and which do not eat, and which children live and which children die. Scott, how would you like thatjob?" Scott looked at me and said, "Oh, my God, I never thought about that".”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“They know that families are suffering because they are not getting the food that they need. No one associated with the United Nations should stand idly by while that happens. It is not just about Yemen. It is about the integrity of the entire United Nations and the humanitarian system around the world. That is what is at stake. We are not giving up. I still have hope that we will prevail on what is right, and that the Houthi leadership will do what is good. We are not asking the Ansar Allah movement for anything other than to let us do our job. Let me end with a short story. I do not know how many of those present saw the 60 Minutes special expose on starving children about a year and a half ago, which was very tough and implicated all sides. Scott Pelley held an extensive interview with many people, including me personally.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“All we are asking is to let us do what we do everywhere else, all over the world. Our humanitarian principles - the very tool that allows us to do our job in the most complex places - are compromised if we are not allowed to independently determine who needs our help the most. We have the expertise, and, fortunately, we have the funds to keep suffering Yemenis alive. Let me be crystal clear here: children are dying right now as we speak because of that interference and our lack of access. I believe that there are elements of the Ansar Allah leadership who want to move forward and do what is right. I really do believe that. But, like in every war, there are those who stand to make a profit, and they will do everything to obstruct and delay. They know that children are dying.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“If and when we do initiate suspension, we will continue our nutrition programme for malnourished children, pregnant women and new mothers, and we will also keep pushing and pushing to get an agreement. We want to resolve this quickly so that the people can get the help they need and the help they deserve. Then we can go back to doing our regular work, which we do all over the world with more than 80 or 90 million people in the most difficult places on Earth. And we can do beneficiary targeting and the biometric registration, as needed, to make sure that the right beneficiaries get the support that they need. If not, then we are looking at expanding the suspension to others areas where the risk of diversion is high. We do not want to do that; it goes against every fibre of our being.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“On 28 December 2018 and 15 January of this year, we signed agreements with the Sana'a authorities on beneficiary registration, beneficiary targeting and biometrics. It was a tremendous breakthrough. It seemed as if we might be able to move forward. But every time we got close to actually putting those agreements into place, there would be a new roadblock. After extensive dialogue, I again wrote to the authorities, asking not for words but for action. I asked them to honour the agreements they had signed. I told them that if we did not receive these assurances, then we would begin a phased suspension of food assistance, most likely towards the end of the week.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“It is why the world and many nations represented in this Chamber today are providing the World Food Programme with over $150 million per month to feed hungry Yemenis. When food assistance goes to the wrong people, when it fails to reach the neediest, have we failed humankind? We cannot let this stand. We have tried every possible option to resolve this issue over the past 18 months. We have been dialoguing and negotiating with the Ansar Allah leadership to simply let us do our job and reach the most vulnerable people in Yemen. It is not any more complicated than that. I have personally appealed to Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, the leader of Ansar Allah. In December and January, he responded in a most favourable way and we made some progress.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“In just the past 60 days, our hotline and monitoring system have detected more than 30 cases of possible misappropriation of food in parts of Yemen controlled by the authorities in Sana'a. On top of this, in Saada, overall 79 per cent of third-party monitors and 66 per cent of WFP staff monitoring visits were blocked. Let me be clear - diversion, while mostly in areas controlled by Ansar Allah, is not limited only to Houthi-controlled areas, but when we face challenges in areas controlled by the Government, we have received cooperation to address the issues on an ongoing basis. Our food assistance is being manipulated, and we are being blocked from fixing it. If we do nothing, does that mean we condone it? Are we a party to it? Are we no longer neutral? Humanity is the reason we are in Yemen in the first place.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“Let me sight just a few examples of the evidence we have gathered. In Sana'a city, a number of beneficiaries told us that they had not received any food assistance. But the distribution list contained their thumbprints, as if they had. Who took their food? We interviewed beneficiaries at seven centres in Sana'a city. As much as 60 per cent of beneficiaries confirmed that they had not received any assistance. Where did their food go? While we saw an initial improvement in early 2019, through the hard work of Martin Griffiths, Mark Lowcock, Lisa Grande and others, concerning information has emerged and continues to emerge. For example, in Saada, 33 per cent of the respondents of our survey did not receive food in April 2019.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source
“Months and months of talks did not yield any results, and while we kept talking and talking and talking, in late 2018 we uncovered serious evidence that food was being diverted and going to the wrong people. As I told the Security Council in November last year (see S/PV.8404), the situation in Yemen was and is catastrophic. Livelihoods have been destroyed; the economy is in shambles. We are now feeding more than 10 million people a month. But as the head of the World Food Programme, I cannot assure the Council that all the assistance is going to those who need it the most. Why? Because we are not allowed to operate independently and because aid is being diverted for profit and/or other purposes. The bottom line is this - food is being taken from the mouths of hungry little girls and little boys who need it just to survive.”
2019-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8551 (2019) · source