YouSaid · the spoken record

David Beasley

lines on the record: 54
first: 2020-04-29
most recent: 2021-03-11
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“But until we can achieve that, we need you to give us the funds to stop millions of people from dying from starvation. We were able to avert famine in 2020, and we can do it again. Please, do not ask us to choose which starving child lives and which one dies. Let us feed them all.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“Together we will use these funds to provide emergency assistance, to save millions of lives and to protect the livelihoods of the world’s poorest communities. But we need the Security Council to play its part too. Because without the required monies, the world cannot stop famine. Beyond the immediate crisis, we also need to invest in peace, so that in future desperate families are not forced to the brink of survival by the bullet and the bomb. The costs of this violence are immense: $14.5 trillion a year, or 15 per cent of global gross domestic product in 2019. It would take a fraction of this money to fund the development programmes that could transform the lives of people in fragile, conflict-scarred nations and help lay new pathways to peace. The Security Council has a moral obligation to do everything in its power to end these wars.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“In Western Pibor, in extreme circumstances, mothers are resorting to feeding their children with the skin of dead animals, or even mud. Just imagine. This is a desperate situation that calls for urgent attention. Famine-like conditions have been identified in western Pibor. The local population calls 2021 “the year of starvation”. Their suffering is the result of widespread conflict and the unprecedented floods that came in 2019 and 2020. These people are in the crossfire of conflict while bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, just like vulnerable communities all around the world. So when we ask Security Council members to provide $5.5 billion immediately to avoid multiple famines around the world, I urge you to open your hearts, show compassion and give generously.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“I am hopeful that, in the next day or so, humanitarians will have additional approval for much-needed satellite phones and communications equipment. But the real work is only just beginning. We believe 3 million people or more in the Tigray region require food assistance, so we have a great deal more to do. But we cannot get on with it unless we receive the funding urgently needed. Tragically, the list of countries in need, the casualties of conflict, just goes on and on. Finally, I want to highlight the continuing crisis in South Sudan, where 7.2 million people face acute levels of food insecurity or worse. In early February, I visited western Pibor, and in recent days I have heard heart-rendering stories about the plight of people living in the area.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“As you all know, from the humanitarian perspective, everyone has been gravely concerned about getting access to help those in need. I, along with other United Nations leaders, have visited Ethiopia several S/2021/250 times since hostilities broke out, including this week, and after detailed extensive negotiations with the Government we have achieved significant breakthroughs. We have substantially improved access for humanitarian workers and cargo in the region, with United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) being able to deliver more support to those in need. Also, the United Nations now has satellite dishes working: two new ones were approved for the International Organization for Migration yesterday and will be available for NGOs to use in Shire and Mekelle.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“And above all, the war needs to end. Sadly, many other nations bear similar scars from conflict and instability. During my visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week, I met many desperate families. It is a cruel irony that this country remains one of the poorest on Earth, despite its vast natural wealth. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s history of conflict and displacement, combined with economic and political instability and health crises such as Ebola have fuelled surging food insecurity. The WFP’s food assistance is providing a lifeline to many of these people, preventing them from being overwhelmed by starvation and famine. But we urgently need more funding to continue this vital work. In February I was in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, which has been convulsed by armed conflict in recent months.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“I talked with her mother, who told me that in desperation she had sold the only canister of cooking gas she had, so she could pay for the day’s journey to the hospital to get help for her daughter. Tragically, I heard just this morning that little Soja passed away. What about all the other families going through this hell. That have sold — what?— only to be denied care when they arrived because of the lack of beds. And now, to add to all their misery, the innocent people of Yemen have to deal with a fuel blockade. For example, most hospitals have electricity only in their intensive care units, because fuel reserves are so low. The people of Yemen deserve our help. That blockade must be lifted, as a humanitarian act. Otherwise, millions more will spiral into crisis. The bottom line on Yemen: we need money, and lots of it.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“If I showed you some of the pictures, you would not believe it, and no one with a heart at all could sit idly by and let this continue. No one. And what is really sad is that these are the fortunate ones, because they are actually receiving medical help. I asked one of the doctors how many beds they have. She told me, 25. I asked, what about the children you have to turn away, what happens to them? She replied, they go home to die. Understand, this is at the best hospital. Around 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way? Like a 5-month-old little girl, Soja, who I visited in one room where she was lying in the arms of her mother, on the verge of death.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“But the potential consequences are truly global: economic deterioration, destabilization, mass migration and starvation. In recent days I have seen the suffering inflicted on innocent families caught in the crossfire of these conflicts. Two days ago I was in Yemen, where over 16 million people now face crisis levels of hunger or worse. We are heading straight towards the biggest famine in modern history. It is hell on Earth in many places in Yemen right now. I visited the Al-Sabeen children’s hospital in Sana’a. While overwhelmingly I found stories of horror, there were also rare stories of hope. But most are stories of pain and hardship. Almost all the children I met were sick, skin and bones, and dying of entirely preventable or treatable illnesses.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“The WFP estimates that at least 34 million people are knocking on the door of famine. These looming famines have two things in common: they are primarily driven by conflict and they are entirely preventable. With modern forecasting, improved agricultural practices and effective humanitarian organizations, natural disasters no longer plunge populations into famine.Make no mistake: man-made conflict is the real culprit. Displacement, a major consequence of armed violence, means lives are turned upside down, fields are abandoned and harvests are missed. Families forced from their lands become dependent on humanitarian assistance just to meet their basic needs. The cycle of violence, hunger and despair pulls in more and more individuals and families as the weeks and months pass.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“But this year it is set to become the world’s largest hunger emergency, with 19.6 million people facing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity — up from 15.6 million a year ago. In Afghanistan, that number is now nearly 17 million people — up from 13.9 million. In Nigeria, it’s 13 million — a staggering increase on the 5 million in crisis before. In Syria, over 12 million people face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse — an all-time high and up from 9.3 million. The Sudan, South Sudan and the Sahel, I could go on and on and on — dozens of countries with millions of their children going hungry because armed groups won’t lay down their guns. Now 270 million people are facing a hunger crisis and, as the Secretary- General laid out, famine is a dangerous possibility in over 30 countries.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“In 2020, we thought that by 2021 COVID-19 would be behind us and that economies and systems would be surging back to normal. Unfortunately, new waves of COVID-19 have been unrelenting, and the concerns of 2020 are now a reality for 2021. So today I must warn you that we are once again sliding towards the brink of the abyss. While COVID-19 is undeniably exacerbating fragility around the world, man- made conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep across the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable. So I want to thank the Secretary-General for his leadership in trying to avert these famines. The WFP’s food insecurity projections for 2021 are truly shocking. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I was last week, is one of the world’s forgotten conflicts.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“Armed conflict, compounded by climate extremes and the COVID-19 pandemic, threatened to push the number of people in the world marching to the brink of starvation from 135 million before COVID-19 to 270 million. I warned that famines of biblical proportions were a real and terrifying prospect in three dozen countries. Thankfully, world listened. Leaders responded with economic stimulus packages and deferred debt for low- and middle-income countries. And safety programmes, among other things, were implemented. As a result, we globally averted a catastrophe. I am proud and sad at the same time that last year the World Food Programme (WFP) reached 114 million people with life-saving assistance — the highest annual total in our history.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“I thank you, Madam President, for the opportunity to brief the Security Council today on this critically important issue. And let me also take this opportunity to welcome you to your new role as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. In April 2020, as the world was still getting to grips with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), I addressed the Security Council (see S/2020/340) and warned that the world stood on the brink of two pandemics — a COVID-19 pandemic and, due to its economic impact and supply-chain disruption, a hunger pandemic. I said that, if we were not careful in how we addressed COVID-19, the cure could be worse than the disease.”
2021-03-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/250 (2021) · source
“Whatever decision is made, it is critical that the humanitarian community can carry out our life-saving work without fear of sanctions or censure. I believe the foreign terrorist organization designation should be reassessed, re-evaluated and reversed. That is the only way to avoid the catastrophic famine that now threatens to overwhelm Yemen.”
2021-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/56 (2021) · source
“The foreign terrorist organization designation will ratchet up the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to a whole new and terrifying level. As a result, up to 4 million people may receive no food assistance at all, and the entire population of Yemen could be plunged into an unparalleled hunger and humanitarian crisis. That means no food, no medicines and no fuel — the basic necessities of life out of reach for millions, building to a massive famine in 2021. I have to warn the Council that I am concerned about the safety and security of humanitarian workers in Yemen. Imagine what 24 million starving people would do if they see trucks with food heading to other areas. The foreign terrorist organization designation may finally break the Yemeni people. It will also make it even harder for the humanitarian community to relieve their suffering.”
2021-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/56 (2021) · source
“Within a couple of months, the 5 million people already in IPC level 4 could be pushed over the abyss into famine. We are looking at an all-out disaster in Yemen. Even worse, the foreign terrorist organization designation comes at a time when our Yemen operation is already desperately underfunded. Last November, I told the Council (see S/2020/1109) that the WFP needed $2.6 billion for 2021 to support 13 million people, including reversing the April 2020 move to half-rations for 9 million people. I warned that, to stave off famine, we needed — at an absolute minimum — $1.9 billion for 2021. So far, we have received a mere $386 million in confirmed contributions. For the next six months alone, we still require $860 million.”
2021-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/56 (2021) · source
“The Council has just heard from Mr. Lowcock and Mr. Griffiths, so I will not repeat what they said, but it is my responsibility to tell the Security Council that the foreign terrorist organization designation is a catastrophe for Yemen’s civilians. As Mr. Lowcock just highlighted, more than 16 million people face a hunger crisis in 2021, including 5 million already on the brink of starvation. The World Food Programme (WFP), which currently reaches 13 million people with some form of food assistance, concluded that the foreign terrorist organization designation would force 80 per cent of Yemen’s population — 24 million people — into severe hunger, at level 3, 4 or 5 of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Food Insecurity classification.”
2021-01-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/56 (2021) · source
“I urge Council members not to turn their backs on them. Listen to the alarm that Mark Lowcock and I are sounding before it is too late. Seize the brief opportunity we have to avoid the famine that is already gaining a foothold in parts of Yemen. But do it today, because time is fast running out.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“We also need a comprehensive, funded plan to avert the famines glaring us in the face, stabilize the shattered economy, support longer-term development and, above all, bring pressure to bear on the warring parties to silence the guns and make peace. Today I am therefore calling on all our major donors to step up with additional funds to avoid the looming famine in Yemen. To restore rations to all beneficiaries and resume other activities, such as specialized nutrition support to children and nursing mothers, we require $2.6 billion for the whole of 2021. At a bare minimum, to avert famine in 2021, we need $1.9 billion. We cannot nickel and dime this to death. We have to move now, or people are going to die. Amid the darkness that threatens to overwhelm Yemen, I ask the Security Council to give the people of this nation a glimmer of hope.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“Further analysis in southern districts in July predicted that acute food insecurity would rise sharply — from 25 per cent of the population to 40 per cent by the end of the year. That is 3.2 million people of the 7.9 million surveyed. The latest internal analysis of the World Food Programme now tells us that famine is a real and dangerous possibility. The warning lights are flashing, and they are not flashing yellow. They are flashing red. We cannot wait for a formal declaration of famine to act. We have to stop waiting for the crisis to reach boiling point and then doing just enough to pull it back from the brink. It is time to stop with the band-aid solutions. We need the authorities to continue working with us and to cooperate with efforts to restore donors’ confidence.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“And we are asking for nothing exceptional or new, but just to implement, as we do all over the world. Why would anyone stand in the way? I truly hope that the Ansar Allah authorities will now continue to work with us to meet these criteria and to play their part so that we can raise the funds that will, quite literally, mean the difference between life and death for millions. We are running out of time. The war now rages across more than 40 front lines. Yemen’s foreign-currency reserves, which were boosted with $2 billion in 2018 to allow the country to import food and fuel, are almost down to zero again. As a result, the cost of basic foods has skyrocketed. The impact on food security has been devastating. Before COVID-19, analysis found the number of people facing severe food insecurity was expected to exceed 17 million people in 2020.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“We need to stabilize the Yemeni rial at around 550 rials to the dollar in order to restore food prices to some level of affordability. If we can scale up the biometric registration and restore donors’ confidence, we can start getting money back into the hands of the Yemeni people. We believe that we could distribute up to $0.5 billion in cash/liquidity and vouchers into the marketplace through beneficiaries in 2021. That would stabilize the currency and get the economy moving again. However, Ansar Allah needs to show that it is willing to help us, and they can do that by meeting the seven preconditions set by donors in February. Of those seven, five have still not been met, although we are slowly making progress on all of them. Quite frankly, these are things that should be resolved in hours or days, not weeks, months and years.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“I am grateful that, on Sunday, we finally had a breakthrough when we were able to start the biometric registration of beneficiaries in Sana’a city. It is an important milestone but one that we should have reached two years ago. However, let me emphasize that this is merely a pilot of 150,000 people. I hope that this marks the start of a new chapter of cooperation among all parties in Yemen, one that allows us to scale up and roll out biometric registration in Ansar Allah-controlled areas as quickly as possible so as to give donors the confidence to provide fresh funds. This is also a critical first step in fixing the severe economic liquidity crisis, which threatens to finally break the back of the Yemeni people.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“Instead of being able to focus on getting life-saving food assistance to the people who desperately need it, we have spent the past two years trying to overcome those unnecessary obstructions. Even worse, the endless delays caused major donors to lose confidence that their funds would get to the right people, and contributions were reduced. We had clearly explained to the Ansar Allah authorities that, with all the increased demands around the world due to COVID-19, this was no time to play games. As a result, in April, we were forced to cut the rations to 9 million people living in areas controlled by the Ansar Allah authorities. Each family now receives a full ration every two months instead of every month. It breaks my heart. However, let me give a glimmer of good news.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“I ended my briefing to the Security Council by begging for the resources to avoid imminent famine. Donors responded to our call and stepped up with new funding. Thankfully, we were able to pull Yemen back from the brink. But, in the two years since, so much of our good work has been wiped out. And, once again, famine is knocking at the door. Let me tell members in part why. We are back in this situation because we have been forced to waste so much time. Since 2018, our people have spent countless days, weeks and months negotiating with the Ansar Allah authorities for access to the areas that they control and for permission to set up the monitoring systems that donors rightly expect in return for their taxpayer dollars.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“I briefed the Security Council on Yemen in 2018 (see S/PV.8213 and S/PV.8404) and 2019 (see S/PV.8551 and S/PV.8578). I know Mark Lowcock has done the same. We have sounded the alarm about Yemen time and time again. In November 2018 (see S/PV.8404), I warned of the horrors that innocent civilians were forced to endure. Today their suffering is more pitiful than ever. I highlighted the deepening economic crisis caused by the collapse in the value of the Yemeni rial. Then it was 720 rials to the dollar. It was 215 before the war started — already one of the poorest nations on the face of the planet. Today it is worth even less — 844 rials to the dollar. And there are predictions that it could soon crash to more than 1,000 rials to the dollar. I warned that 12 million people were one step away from famine.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“I thank you, Madam President, for convening this briefing on the worsening crisis in Yemen. Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but I want to make sure that no one is left with any doubt about the scale of the humanitarian disaster now confronting this nation. We are on a countdown to catastrophe in Yemen. The people have already been ravaged by years of conflict-fuelled hunger and malnutrition. A toxic combination of surging violence, a deepening economic and currency collapse and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now ratcheting up their misery to a completely new level. The world must open its eyes to this unfolding humanitarian disaster before it is too late. If we choose to look away, Yemen will be plunged into a devastating famine within a few short months. The truth is that we have been here before.”
2020-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1109 (2020) · source
“In my home country, the United States of America, there are 12 individuals alone worth $1 trillion. In fact, reports state that three of them made billions upon billions during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am not opposed to anyone making money, but humankind is facing the greatest crisis of our lifetimes. It is time for those who have the most to step up in order to help those who have the least. It is time for them to show that they truly love their neighbours. The world needs them right now. It is time to do the right thing.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“Resolution 2417 (2018) was a landmark moment. It is time to live up to our pledge and mobilize immediately to save countless lives, in an effort to promote peace and stability around the world. We need everyone on board. I understand that Governments everywhere are facing unprecedented financial pressure due to the pandemic. I believe, therefore, that it is time for the private sector to step up and help fund the relief effort. Some may be wondering why I am bringing this up at the Security Council, but I will take every opportunity I get to raise the alarm before it is too late. We need $4.9 billion to feed 30 million people for one year — people who will all die without the WFP’s assistance. Worldwide, there are over 2,000 billionaires, with a net worth of $8 trillion.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“We cannot, and we must not, surrender, or tell ourselves that there is nothing we can do, because millions of people around the world desperately need our help. The truth is that we are all out of excuses for failing to act — swiftly and decisively — while children, women and men starve to death. Today, as humanitarians, we are here to warn the Council that the pressures caused by conflict and COVID-19 are rapidly building, and I am terrified the dam protecting us from famine may be about to burst. But there is hope amid the turmoil. The peace agreements signed in the Sudan and in the Middle East in the last couple of weeks show that, if there is a real commitment to peace, miracles can happen. Now the world needs political leadership to build peace and avert this hunger crisis, and I urge Security Council members to lead the way.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“For 11,000 of these people living in the northern provinces, famine is knocking on the door as we speak. We know what we need to do. We have made huge strides forward in spotting the early warning signs of famine and in understanding its causes and consequences. But, tragically, we have seen this story play out too many times before. The world stands by until it is too late, while hunger kills, stokes community tensions, fuels conflict and instability and forces families from their homes. I recently learned that in Latin America hungry families have started hanging white flags outside their houses to show they need help. There are a lot of them: 17.1 million severely hungry people today, as compared with 4.5 million in December last year. A white flag is the sign of surrender — of giving up.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“The outlook in South Sudan is similarly worrisome, where even before the pandemic 6.5 million people were expected to face severe hunger at the height of the lean season, made worse by the violence in Jonglei state in recent months. That has resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians, a large number of abducted women and children and widespread loss of livestock and livelihoods. In addition, virus outbreaks in urban areas such as Juba could put as many as another 1.6 million people at real risk of starvation. Finally, even though it is not on today’s agenda, I also want to highlight the disaster unfolding in Burkina Faso, driven by the upsurge in violence. The number of people facing crisis levels of hunger has tripled to 3.3 million people, as COVID-19 compounds displacement, security and access problems.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“As the only airport in northern Yemen, it is a critical access point for humanitarian staff. The inability to move people in and out will hamper our efforts to stave off famine. The alarm bells in Yemen are ringing loud and clear, and the world needs to open its eyes to the Yemeni people’s desperate plight before famine takes hold. In Nigeria, too, COVID-19 is forcing more people into food insecurity. Analysis shows that the measures imposed to contain the virus reduced incomes in 80 per cent of households. In the north-east of the country, 4.3 million people are food-insecure, up by 600,000, largely due to COVID-19, while in the large urban area of Kano, the number of food-insecure people skyrocketed from 568,000 in March to 1.5 million in June — an increase of 1 million people.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“If we are forced to scale back operations, the outlook is even worse. In Yemen, meanwhile, the countdown to catastrophe continues following years of conflict-induced hunger, and now the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty million people are already in crisis due to war, a collapsed economy and currency, crippling food prices and the destruction of public infrastructure. We believe that a further 3 million may now face starvation due to the virus. Already because of lack of funding, 8.5 million of our beneficiaries in Yemen receive assistance only every other month. We will be forced to cut rations for the remaining 4.5 million by December if funds do not increase. The decision by the Ansar Allah authorities to close Sana’a international airport last week has made an already impossible situation worse.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“The Council’s continued support for humanitarian programmes is therefore a matter of life and death — literally — for millions of people in the countries being discussed today, and for many millions more in the other countries edging closer to the brink of starvation. We know that already there are 30 million people who rely solely on the WFP for their survival. Let me turn to the countries on today’s agenda. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conflict and instability had already forced 15.5 million people into crisis levels of food insecurity. The latest assessment indicates that the upsurge in violence and COVID-19 have sent that total skyrocketing to nearly 22 million people, an increase of 6.5 million people. I should warn the Council that these numbers assume that the WFP is able to maintain current levels of food assistance.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“We also have to be vigilant and guard against unintended consequences, which could hit the poorest people the hardest. The virus itself thus far has not been as deadly as many people had feared in sub-Saharan Africa; this is the good news. But its toll has been devastating in other ways. The London School of Health and Tropical Medicine has analysed the closure of vaccination clinics in Africa during lockdown. It calculated that for every COVID-19 death prevented, as many as 80 children may die due to a lack of routine immunizations. There is a grave danger that many more people will die from the broader economic and social consequences of COVID-19 than from the virus itself, especially in Africa.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“But I urge members not to walk away from their commitment to humanitarian assistance, and not to turn their backs on the world’s hungry people. As COVID-19 pushed countries everywhere to lock down, the equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs have been destroyed and remittances have collapsed. The impact has been felt hardest by the 2 billion people who work in the informal economy, mainly in middle- and low-income countries. Already only one day’s work away from going hungry, living hand to mouth, they now have no money to buy their daily bread. This inevitably creates a risk of rising social tensions and instability. It is critically important that we balance sensible measures to contain the spread of the virus with the need to keep borders open and supply chains and trade flows moving.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“The global hunger crisis caused by conflict, and now compounded by COVID-19, is moving into a new and dangerous phase — especially in nations already scarred by violence. The threat of famine is looming again; And so we have to step up, not step back: 2021 will be a make-or-break year. Financially, 2020 was a record year for the WFP. We hit $8 billion for the first time ever, but our budget was set before the pandemic hit. Economies were strong. Reserve and emergency funds were available. But now I am truly worried about what will happen next year. I know members’ Governments are spending billions on domestic stimulus packages. National budgets are tight; reserves are running low, if not out; and economies are shrinking.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“Every day, we are succeeding in keeping people alive and avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe. But this fight is far from over — the 270 million people marching towards the brink of starvation still need our help. We are doing just about all we can do to stop the dam from bursting. But, without the resources we need, a wave of hunger and famine still threatens to sweep across the globe. And if it does, it will overwhelm nations and communities already weakened by years of conflict and instability. The Security Council made a historic decision when it adopted resolution 2417 (2018) and condemned the human cost of conflict paid in suffering and hunger. The resolution called for effective early-warning systems and, once more, I am here to sound the alarm.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“Donors stepped up with advanced funding and additional life-saving dollars. And, with our donors’ help, the global humanitarian community launched a huge and unprecedented global fightback against COVID-19. Along with our partners, the World Food Programme (WFP) is going all- out to reach as many as 138 million people this year — the biggest scale-up in our history. Already, in the first six months of 2020, we reached 85 million people. The WFP is doing what we do best — adapting and innovating to meet the unique demands of the pandemic: launching new food and cash programmes to support the hungry in urban areas; supporting over 50 Governments to scale up their safety nets and social protection programmes for the most vulnerable; and getting nutritious food to millions of school children shut out of the classroom during lockdown.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“I thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to brief the Security Council today on this critically important issue. Five months ago, I warned the Council the world stood on the brink of a hunger pandemic (see S/2020/340). A toxic combination of conflict, climate change and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threatened to push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. Famine was a real and terrifying possibility in up to three dozen countries. I am grateful the world listened, responded and acted. Countries large and small took extraordinary measures to save the lives of their citizens and support their economies, spending $17 trillion on fiscal stimulus and central bank support. The International Monetary Fund and the Group of 20 nations threw a lifeline to the poorest nations by suspending debt repayments.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“Resolution 2417 (2018) also highlighted the need for early-warning systems, and today I am here to raise that alarm. There are no famines yet. But I must warn the Council that, if we do not prepare and act now to secure access and avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade, we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a few short months. The actions we take will determine our success, or failure, in building sustainable food systems as the basis of stable and peaceful societies. The truth is, we do not have time on our side, so let us act wisely and let us act fast. I believe that, with our expertise and partnerships, we can bring together the teams and the programmes necessary to make certain the COVID-19 pandemic does not become a humanitarian and food crisis catastrophe.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“We are asking donors to accelerate the $1.9 billion in funding that has already been pledged, so that we can build stockpiles, create those life-saving buffers and protect the most vulnerable from the effects of supply chain disruptions, commodity shortages, economic damage and lockdowns. Members understand exactly what I am talking about. We are also requesting a further $350 million to set up a network of logistics hubs and transport systems to keep humanitarian supply chains moving around the world. They will also provide field hospitals and medical evacuations to the front- line humanitarian and health workers, on a strategic, as-needed basis. Two years ago, the Security Council took a landmark step when it recognized — and condemned — the devastating human toll of conflict paid in poverty and hunger.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“It also means resisting the temptation to introduce export bans or import subsidies, which can lead to price hikes and almost always backfire. WFP is working hand in glove with Governments to build and strengthen national safety nets. That is critical right now to ensure fair access to assistance, help maintain peace and prevent rising tensions among communities. Thirdly, we need coordinated action to support life-saving humanitarian assistance. For example, WFP is implementing plans to pre-position three months’ worth of food and cash to serve country operations identified as priorities.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“But we need to do so much more, and I urge the Council to lead the way. First and foremost, we need peace. As the Secretary-General recently said very clearly, a global ceasefire is essential. Secondly, we need all parties involved in conflicts to give us swift and unimpeded humanitarian access to all vulnerable communities, so that we can get the assistance they need to them, regardless of who or where they are. In a very general sense, we also need humanitarian goods and commercial trade to continue flowing across borders, because they are the lifeline of global food systems as well as of the global economy. Supply chains have to keep moving if we are going to overcome the pandemic and get food from where it is produced to where it is needed.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“Nearly 370 million children are missing out on nutritious school meals — one can only imagine that when children do not get the nutrition they need, their immunity goes down. Where nutritious school meals have been suspended by school closures, we are working to replace them with take-home rations, wherever possible. As members know, WFP is the logistical backbone for the humanitarian world, and even more so now for the global effort to beat the pandemic. We have delivered millions upon millions of personal protective equipment, testing kits and face masks to 78 countries on behalf of the World Health Organization. We are also running humanitarian air services to get front-line health professionals, doctors and nurses and humanitarian staff into countries that need help, especially while the commercial air industry is basically shut down.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“And, of course, when donor countries’ revenues are down, how much impact that will have on life-saving foreign aid remains to be seen. The economic and health impacts of COVID-19 are most worrisome for communities in countries across Africa and the Middle East because the virus threatens further damage to the lives and livelihoods of people already put at risk by conflict. WFP and our partners are going all-out to help them and will do everything we possibly can. For example, we know that children are particularly vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition, so we are prioritizing assistance to them. As the Council may know, 1.6 billion children and young people are currently out of school owing to lockdown closures.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“That is why I am talking about a hunger pandemic. It is critical that we come together as one united global community to defeat this disease and protect the most vulnerable nations and communities from its potentially devastating effects. Lockdowns and economic recession are expected to lead to a major loss of income among the working poor. Overseas remittances will also drop sharply, which will hurt countries such as Haiti, Nepal and Somalia, to name just a few. The loss of tourism receipts will damage countries such as Ethiopia, where it accounts for 47 per cent of total exports. The collapsing oil prices in lower-income countries like South Sudan, where oil accounts for 98.8 per cent of total exports, will have a significant impact.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source
“In a worst-case scenario, we could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries, and, in fact, in 10 of those countries, we already have more than 1 million people per country who are on the verge of starvation. In many places, that human suffering is the heavy price of conflict. At WFP we are proud that the Security Council made the historic decision to adopt resolution 2417 (2018). It was amazing to see the Council come together. Now we have to live up to our pledge to protect the most vulnerable and act immediately to save lives. But that is, in my opinion, only the first part of the strategy needed to protect conflict-riven countries from a hunger pandemic caused by the coronavirus. There is also a real danger that more people could potentially die from the economic impact of COVID-19 than from the virus itself.”
2020-04-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/340 (2020) · source