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Weissenhaus, Germany/New York, May 14 – The world’s seven leading economies (G7) and the European Union said in a statement concluding their three-day meeting in Weissenhaus that the Russia’s war in Ukraine is responsible for spiked food and commodity prices that are threatening millions of people, particularly in poor countries in Africa and the Middle East. The UN Security Council in New York has scheduled an open debate on May 19 on the war’s impacts on the global economy.

The statement said the “war of aggression against Ukraine” and unilateral actions preventing Ukraine’s exports of agricultural products have led to “steep price rises in commodity markets and the threats we are now seeing to global food security.”

“As global markets suffer from Russia’s war of choice by rising food and commodity prices, thus affecting the lives of people around the world and exacerbating existing humanitarian and protection needs, we are determined to contribute additional resources to and support all relevant efforts that aim to ensure availability and accessibility of food, energy and financial resources as well as basic commodities for all.”

The G7, composed of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. called on Russia to immediately cease its attacks on key transport infrastructure in Ukraine, including ports, so that they can be used for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products.

The G7 said it will discuss the causes and consequences of the global food crisis through a Global Alliance for Food Security and will closely cooperate with international partners and organizations beyond the G7 “with the aim of transforming political commitments into concrete actions as planned by various international initiatives such as the Food and Agricultural Resilience Mission (FARM) and key regional outreach initiatives, including towards African and Mediterranean countries.”

The G7 said Russia’s war in Ukraine “violated the UN Charter, undermined the fundamental principles of the European security architecture as enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris and will have to face consequences for its actions.” It also “condemns and will systematically expose Russia’s policy of information manipulation and interference, including disinformation which it employs to justify and support its war of aggression against Ukraine and which deliberately aims at manipulating public opinions domestically and worldwide with a view to covering its responsibilities in the ongoing war.”

UN Security Council to discuss war’s impacts on food security on May 19
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to preside a meeting of the 15-nation council on May 19 at which food security issues and the war in Ukraine will be debated with the participation of UN member nations. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose country holds the council’s presidency for the month of May, said the meeting will debate war’s impacts on food security.

The World Food Program (WFP), the UN agency that feeds the world’s hungry, has called for the re-opening of ports in Odesa in the Black Sea in order to allow exports of grains and other commodities to the rest of the world. Ukraine and Russia, known as major food baskets, provide up to 30 per cent of global wheat that are needed in developing countries.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley has said that Ukraine’s grain silos are full but the war has stopped all exports. He said 44 million people around the world are facing starvation because of severe shortages and high food prices.

“We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies,” he said. “We’re running out of time and the cost of inaction will be higher than anyone can imagine. I urge all parties involved to allow this food to get out of Ukraine to where it’s desperately needed so we can avert the looming threat of famine”.

WFP’s studies showed that 276 million people worldwide were already facing acute hunger at the start of 2022 and that number is expected to rise by 47 million people if the conflict in Ukraine continues, with the steepest rises in sub-Saharan Africa. WFP said most of Ukraine’s food productions before the war could feed some 400 million people and they were shipped through the Black Sea ports.

The World Bank in Washington said in its Commodity Markets Outlook report published on April 25 that Russia’s February 24 war in Ukraine has dealt a “major shock” to commodity markets and has altered global patterns of trade, production, and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024.

The report said the increase in energy prices in the past two years has been the largest since the 1973 oil crisis. Price increases for food commodities—of which Russia and Ukraine are large producers—and fertilizers, which rely on natural gas as a production input, have been the largest since 2008.

Download the report

“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s. As was the case then, the shock is being aggravated by a surge in restrictions in trade of food, fuel and fertilizers,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions. “These developments have started to raise the specter of stagflation. Policymakers should take every opportunity to increase economic growth at home and avoid actions that will bring harm to the global economy.”

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Kabul/New York, May 9 – An estimated 19.7 million Afghan people, or nearly half of the country’s population, are facing acute hunger because of a series of setbacks, including drought, years of conflict and the on-going war in Ukraine which is causing a global shortage in wheat and other commodities, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP), two major UN agencies specialized in food, said in a joint report.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, conducted in January and February 2022 warned of “catastrophic levels” of food insecurity know as IPC Phase 5 that has been detected in the north-eastern province of Ghor, with a population of 20,000 people. It said the catastrophic levels of hunger are caused by a long period of harsh winter and disastrous agricultural conditions.

Read report: Afghanistan IPC Report,

(NOTE: Definitions provided by the UN: Acute food insecurity is when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger. Chronic hunger is when a person is unable to consume enough food over an extended period to maintain a normal, active lifestyle.)

“Unprecedented levels of humanitarian assistance focused on bolstering food security have made a difference. But the food security situation is dire. Humanitarian assistance remains desperately important, as do the needs to rebuild shattered agricultural livelihoods and re-connect farmers and rural communities to struggling rural and urban markets across the country. Unless these happen, there will be no way out of this crisis,” said Richard Trenchard, FAO Representative in Afghanistan.

Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP’s Country Director and Representative in Afghanistan, said, “Food assistance and emergency livelihood support are the lifeline for the people of Afghanistan. We mounted the world’s largest humanitarian food operation in a matter of months, reaching more than 16 million people since August 2021.”

“We are working with farmers, millers, and bakeries, training women and creating jobs to support the local economy. Because the people of Afghanistan would much prefer jobs; women want to be able to work; and all girls deserve to go to school. Allowing the economy to function normally is the surest way out of the crisis, otherwise suffering will grow where crops cannot,” she added.

The report predicted that the food security outlook for June-November 2022 may see a slight improvement, including a reduction in the acute food insecurity cases to 18.9 million people due in part to the coming wheat harvest during the May-August period and this year’s “well-coordinated scale-up of humanitarian food assistance – alongside increased agricultural livelihood support.”

But the report said the slight improvement may be limited because of lingering drought and the country’s economic crisis, which means that hunger will remain a threat to millions of people in Afghanistan.

The war in Ukraine will continue to put pressure on Afghanistan’s wheat supply, food commodities, agricultural inputs and fuel prices, the report said. It said access to seeds, fertilizer and water for irrigation is limited, labour opportunities are scarce and enormous debts have been incurred to buy food over the last few months.

FAO and WFP said they will continue to scale up programs across Afghanistan while WFP has reached more than 16 million people so far in 2022 with emergency food assistance, and is supporting local markets, working with retailers and local suppliers. WFP continues to invest in people’s livelihoods through skills training and climate adaption projects so that families can cultivate their land and grow their own food. FAO said it will continue to scale up its assistance to farmers and herders in rural areas and will assist more than 9 million people in 2022 through a range of interventions supporting crop, livestock and vegetable production, cash transfers and the rehabilitation of vital irrigation infrastructure and systems.

“Supporting agriculture is a cost-effective and strategic intervention that delivers great short-term impact as lifesaving support, while it paves the way for longer-term recovery and sustainable development,” the two agencies said.

UN protests Taliban’s order forcing Afghan women to wear hijab and stay home

The UN assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) issued the following statement on May 7 to protest  the order:

“UNAMA is deeply concerned with today’s announcement by the Taliban de facto authorities that all women must cover their faces in public, that women should only leave their homes in cases of necessity, and that violations of this directive will lead to the punishment of their male relatives. Information that UNAMA has received suggests this is a formal directive rather than a recommendation, and that it will be implemented and enforced.

This decision contradicts numerous assurances regarding respect for and protection of all Afghans’ human rights, including those of women and girls, that had been provided to the international community by Taliban representatives during discussions and negotiations over the past decade. These assurances were repeated following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, that women would be afforded their rights, whether in work, education, or society at large.

The international community has been eager for signals that the Taliban are ready for positive relations with the wider world. The decision six weeks ago to postpone secondary schooling for Afghan girls was widely condemned internationally, regionally, and locally. Today’s decision by the Taliban might further strain engagement with the international community.

UNAMA will immediately request meetings with the Taliban de facto authorities to seek clarification on the status of this decision. UNAMA will also engage in consultations with members of the international community regarding its implications.”

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Following are news releases: The international community calls for a shift towards better prevention, anticipation, and targeting to address the root causes of food crises. Read report: GLOBAL REPORT ON FOOD CRISES: ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY HITS NEW HIGHS

Rome, 4 May – The number of people facing acute food insecurity and requiring urgent life-saving food assistance and livelihood support continues to grow at an alarming rate. This makes it more urgent than ever to tackle the root causes of food crises rather than just responding after they occur. This is a key takeaway from an annual report launched today by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – an international alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together.

The report focusses on those countries and territories where the magnitude and severity of the food crisis exceed the local resources and capacities. In these situations the mobilization of the international community is necessary.

Key figures

The document reveals that around 193 million people in 53 countries or territories experienced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3-5) in 2021. This represents an increase of nearly 40 million people compared with the already record numbers of 2020. Of these, over half a million people (570 000) in Ethiopia, southern Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen were classified in the most severe phase of acute food insecurity Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) and required urgent action to avert widespread collapse of livelihoods, starvation and death.

When looking at the same 39 countries or territories featured in all editions of the report, the number of people facing crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021, with unabated rises each year since 2018.

The root causes of food crisis

These worrying trends are the result of multiple drivers feeding into one another, ranging from conflict to environmental and climate crises, from economic to health crises with poverty and inequality as undelaying causes.

Conflict remains the main driver of food insecurity. While the analysis predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the report finds that the war has already exposed the interconnected nature and fragility of global food systems, with serious consequences for global food and nutrition security. Countries already coping with high levels of acute hunger are particularly vulnerable to the risks created by the war in Eastern Europe, notably due to their high dependency on imports of food and agricultural inputs and vulnerability to global food price shocks, it notes.

The key drivers behind rising acute food insecurity in 2021 were:

·       conflict (main driver pushing 139 million people in 24 countries/territories into acute food insecurity, up from around 99 million in 23 countries/territories in in 2020);

·       weather extremes (over 23 million people in 8 countries/territories, up from 15.7 million in 15 countries/territories);

·       economic shocks – (over 30 million people in 21 countries/territories, down from over 40 million people in 17 countries/territories in 2020 mainly due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic).

Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine jeopardizes global food security. The international community must act to avert the largest food crisis in history and the social, economic, and political upheaval that could follow. The EU is committed to address all drivers of food insecurity: conflict, climate change, poverty and inequalities. While it is necessary to provide immediate assistance to save lives and prevent famine, we must continue to help partner countries in transition to sustainable agri-food systems and resilient supply chains by tapping the full potential of the Green Deal and the Global Gateway.”

Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said: “There should be no place for hunger in the twenty-first century. Yet, we are seeing too many people pushed away from the path to prosperity. A clear message resonated today: if we want to prevent a major global food crisis, we need to act now, and we need to work together. I believe the international community is up to this task. By leveraging collective action and pooling resources, our global solidarity is stronger and far reaching. As demonstrating with its aid funding as well as humanitarian-development-peace synergies, the EU remains committed to address this food and nutrition crisis together with the international community.”

“The tragic link between conflict and food insecurity is once again evident and alarming,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “While the international community has courageously stepped up to the calls for urgent famine prevention and mitigation action, resource mobilization to efficiently tackle the root causes of food crises due to, among others, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, global hotspots and the war in Ukraine, still struggles to match the growing needs. The results of this year’s Global Report further demonstrate the need to collectively address acute food insecurity at the global level across humanitarian, development and peace contexts.”

“Acute hunger is soaring to unprecedented levels and the global situation just keeps on getting worse. Conflict, the climate crisis, COVID-19 and surging food and fuel costs have created a perfect storm – and now we’ve got the war in Ukraine piling catastrophe on top of catastrophe. Millions of people in dozens of countries are being driven to the edge of starvation. We urgently need emergency funding to pull them back from the brink and turn this global crisis around before it’s too late,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley.

A paradigm shift

“The situation calls out for at-scale action to move towards integrated approaches to prevention, anticipation, and better targeting to sustainably address the root causes of food crises, including structural rural poverty, marginalization, population growth and fragile food systems,” said European Union-FAO-WFP – founding members of the Global Network – together with USAID and the World Bank in a joint statement that will be released this week.

The findings of the report demonstrate the need for a greater prioritization of smallholder agriculture as a frontline humanitarian response, to overcome access constraints and as a solution for reverting negative long-term trends. Furthermore, promoting structural changes to the way external financing is distributed, so that humanitarian assistance can be reduced over time through longer-term development investments, can tackle the root causes of hunger. In parallel, we need to collectively promote more efficient and sustainable ways of providing humanitarian assistance.

Likewise, strengthening a coordinated approach to ensure that humanitarian, development and peacekeeping activities are delivered in a holistic and coordinated manner, and ensuring and avoiding further fuelling conflict as an unintended consequence will also contribute to resilience building and recovery.

Note to editors

Acute food insecurity is when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger. It draws on internationally-accepted measures of extreme hunger, such as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and the Cadre Harmonisé. It is not the same as chronic hunger, as reported on each year by the UN’s annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. Chronic hunger is when a person is unable to consume enough food over an extended period to maintain a normal, active lifestyle.

About the Global Network and the Global Report

Founded by the European Union, FAO and WFP in 2016, the Global Network Against Food Crises is an alliance of humanitarian and development actors working together to prevent, prepare for and respond to food crises and support the Sustainable Development Goal to End Hunger (SDG 2

The Global Report on Food Crises is the flagship publication of the Global Network and is facilitated by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN). The Report is the result of a consensus-based and multipartner analytical process involving 17 international humanitarian and development partners (full list here).

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments is intended for specific individuals or entities, and may be confidential, proprietary or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately, delete this message and do not disclose, distribute or copy it to any third party or otherwise use this message. The content of this message does not necessarily reflect the official position of the World Food Programme. Electronic messages are not secure or error free and may contain viruses or may be delayed, and the sender is not liable for any of these occurrences. The sender reserves the right to monitor, record and retain electronic messages.

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By J. Tuyet Nguyen

New York, March 2 – The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly 141-5 to adopt a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and demanding that Russia withdraw its military forces and respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. A total of 35 countries abstained.

The five countries voting against were Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea.

The resolution adopted by the 193-member assembly in an emergency special session reaffirmed the UN commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

It condemned Russia’s “special military operation” against Ukraine and “deplored in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine” in violation of the UN Charter. The resolution called for an immediate and complete cease-fire and for the immediate withdrawal of Russian military forces from Ukraine.

The resolution also condemned all violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights, and it called on all parties to strictly respect relevant provisions of international humanitarian law.

On February 24, the UN Security Council, which is the top political body in the organization, attempted to condemn the Russian military operations that started on February 23 but a vote on a resolution failed due to a veto by the Russian representative. In the vote, 11 members voted in favor of the resolution, Russia voted against and three members abstained: China, India and the UAE.

Contrary to voting rules in the 15-nation Security Council, a negative vote in the General Assembly does not constitute a veto, which automatically blocks a resolution from being adopted. In the Security Council the five permanent members – the US, Russia, France, China and the UK – each has the right to block a vote regardless of whether a majority of council members voted in favor of a resolution.

The council then asked the General Assembly to take action on the resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine under an emergency procedure known as Uniting for Peace. Only 10 such special sessions had been held by the assembly since 1950. The special sessions give the assembly the power to take up matters of international peace and security when the Security Council is unable to act because of the lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members.

“The fighting in Ukraine must stop,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an address to the special emergency session. “It is raging across the country, from air, land and sea. It must stop now.”

Guterres said Russia’s decision to put its nuclear forces on high alert is a “chilling development. The mere idea of a nuclear conflict is simply inconceivable. Nothing can justify the use of nuclear weapons.”

“We face what could easily become Europe’s worst humanitarian and refugee crisis in decades, with the numbers of refugees and internally displaced multiplying by the minute.”

Ambassador Olof Skoog, head of the European Union Delegation to the UN, told the assembly that the EU “condemned in the strongest possible terms the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by armed forces of the Russian Federation in violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

“We also condemn the involvement of Belarus in this aggression against Ukraine.  We urge both Russia and Belarus to abide by their international obligations.

We are also alarmed by Russia’s raising of the nuclear alert level.  We call on Russia to de-escalate and to immediately return to the previous alert level of its nuclear arsenal and to avoid any actions that could risk the safety or security of the nuclear power plants in Ukraine, a non-nuclear weapon State under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”

“Russia bears full responsibility for this aggression and the resulting loss of life and destruction. We demand from Russia to cease its military operations immediately and unconditionally and to withdraw all forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. We further call on Russia to engage in earnest in dialogue with a view to a political and diplomatic solution.”

UN appeals for $1.7 billion as humanitarian needs soar in Ukraine and neighboring countries

(Following is a press release from Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva)

The United Nations and humanitarian partners launched coordinated emergency appeals for a combined $1.7 billion to urgently deliver humanitarian support to people in Ukraine and refugees in neighboring countries.

The escalation of conflict has triggered an immediate and steep rise in humanitarian needs as essential supplies and services are disrupted and civilians flee the fighting.

The UN estimates that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees may need protection and assistance in neighboring countries in the coming months.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said: “Families with small children are hunkered down in basements and subway stations or running for their lives to the terrifying sound of explosions and wailing sirens. Casualty numbers are rising fast. This is the darkest hour for the people of Ukraine. We need to ramp up our response now to protect the lives and dignity of ordinary Ukrainians. We must respond with compassion and solidarity.”

The Flash Appeal asks for $1.1 billion to assist 6 million people inside Ukraine for an initial three months. The program includes multipurpose cash assistance for the most vulnerable people, food assistance, water and sanitation, support to health care and education services, and shelter assistance to rebuild damaged homes. The plan also aims to deliver support to authorities to maintain and establish transit and reception centres for displaced people and prevent gender-based violence.

Aid groups will need safe and unimpeded access to all conflict-affected areas according to the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence.

With more than half a million refugees having fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the past five days alone, and many more expected, support is also required to meet the critical needs of those seeking protection outside the country.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said: “We are looking at what could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century. While we have seen tremendous solidarity and hospitality from neighboring countries in receiving refugees, including from local communities and private citizens, much more support will be needed to assist and protect new arrivals.”

An inter-agency Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for the Ukraine situation asks for a preliminary $550.6 million to help refugees in Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, as well as in other countries in the region in order to help host countries provide shelter, emergency relief items, cash assistance, and mental health and psychosocial support to those who fled Ukraine, including people with specific needs, such as unaccompanied children. Media contacts: Shabia Mantoo, UNHCR, mantoo@unhcr.org, +41 79 337 7650 – Jens Laerke, UNOCHA, laerke@un.org, +41 79 472 9750

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New York, February 22 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine amounts to a violation of that country’s sovereignty as well as the UN Charter. He said Russia’s military threats against Ukraine is the “biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years.”

“Let me be clear: the decision of the Russian Federation to recognize the so-called “independence” of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Guterres told journalists at UN headquarters after cutting short his trip and meetings in Africa to return to New York.            

“Such a unilateral measure conflicts directly with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations – and is inconsistent with the so-called Friendly Relations Declaration of the General Assembly which the International Court of Justice has repeatedly cited as representing international law.”

Guterres said Russia’s deployment of so-called peacekeeping troops to the two regions is a “perversion of the concept of peacekeeping. I am proud of the achievements of UN Peacekeeping in which so many Blue Helmets have sacrificed their lives to protect civilians.”

“When troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers. They are not peacekeepers at all.”

“The United Nations, in line with the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, stands fully behind the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders.

We are continuing to support the people of Ukraine through our humanitarian operations and human rights efforts,” Guterres said.

Russia’s military threats against Ukraine prompted the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting on February 21 at Ukraine’s request to discuss the situation regarding that country.

“The risk of major conflict is real and needs to be prevented at all costs,” Rosemary A. DiCarlo, the UN undersecretary general, told the 15-nation council. She said Russia’s decision was “in violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” and risks triggering regional and global repercussions.

“We also regret the order today to deploy Russian troops into Eastern Ukraine, reportedly on a ‘peacekeeping mission’”, she said, adding that the developments followed the decision to order “a mass evacuation of civilian residents of Donetsk and Luhansk into the Russian Federation”.

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Munich/New York, February 18 – Issues of climate change, the pandemic and famine were raised at the annual Munich Security Conference which held an in-person meeting amid war threats in Ukraine for the first time since Covid-19 struck three years ago.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the meeting that non-traditional security issues like climate crisis and Covid-19, which are the world’s current biggest issues, may exacerbate global security and he demanded that world leaders take action.

On Ukraine, Guterres said, “I am deeply concerned about heightened tensions and increased speculation about a military conflict in Europe. I still think it will not happen. But if it did, it would be catastrophic.”

Guterres said the world has become more complex and dangerous under the pandemic. He cited security threats in Syria where Da’esh, Al-Qaida and its affiliates are regaining grounds, the risks of terrorist spill over out of Afghanistan as well as the alarming spread of terrorism in some African countries that show “how adept terrorists are at exploiting power vacuums and subverting fragile states.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inadequacy and moral bankruptcy of the global financial system, which has increased the systemic inequality between north and south.

Many countries in the Global South have suffered devastating economic losses during the pandemic.

Governments face debt default and financial ruin, while their people face poverty, unemployment, hunger and despair.

“I urge all countries to step up support for global solutions to these non-traditional security threats, including the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change; the World Health Organization global vaccination strategy; and urgent reforms to the global financial system to enable developing countries to access the resources needed to support their people,” Guterres said.

WHO: Pandemic will end “when we choose to end it.”

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus boldly told the conference that the answer to the question of when the pandemic will end: “It will end when we choose to end it. Because ultimately, it’s not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice.”

Tedros said the world now has the tools and know-how to end the pandemic this year.

“In particular, we are calling on all countries to fill the urgent financing gap of US$ 16 billion for the ACT Accelerator, to make vaccines, tests, treatments and PPE available everywhere,” he said.

Compared with the costs of another year of economic turmoil, $16 billion is frankly peanuts. And some finance ministers called it a rounding error to the money they are losing due to the pandemic.”

One of the programs to fight the pandemic is to allow and strengthen capacities for local production of vaccines and other health products in low- and middle-income countries. Tedros said WHO has established the WHO Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, which has now developed its own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

With the financial support of the European Union, WHO announced (February 18) the first six African countries to receive technology from the hub to produce their own mRNA vaccines: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

Tedros called for substantial resources of $31 billion a year in order to strengthen global health security with about $20 billion coming from existing and projected domestic and international resources, leaving a gap of U$ 10 billion per year. 

“To close the gap for the most essential functions – such as surveillance, research and market-shaping for countermeasures – we support the idea of a new dedicated financing facility, anchored in, and directed by, WHO’s constitutional mandate, inclusive governance and technical expertise,” he said.

WFP: Famine threatens world like a ring of fire
David Beasly, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), told the conference that conflict and climate shocks compounded by the pandemic and rising costs are driving millions of people to the brink of starvation.

“We have a ring of fire circling the earth now from the Sahel to South Sudan to Yemen, to Afghanistan, all the way around to Haiti and Central America,” Beasley said. “If we do not address the situation immediately over the next 9 months we will see famine, we will see destabilization of nations and we will see mass migration. If we don’t do something we are going to pay a mighty big price.”

He said a total of 45 million people in 43 countries are teetering on the edge of famine and as global hunger rates and humanitarian needs shoot ever higher, the resources required to meet them are levelling off. Beasly said the number of food insecure people has jumped from 135 million to 283 million in the last two years and it could spike ever further.

“We averted famine and catastrophe in 2021 and 2022 because nations stepped up. We thought COVID would be behind us by 2022, but it only recycled again, exacerbating, and creating economic catastrophes among the poorest countries around the world,” Beasley said. “WFP has the solutions and we’ve got the programs to stop this crisis, we just need the money, otherwise nations around the world will pay for it a thousand-fold.”

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Kabul, Geneva, New York, January 26 – Afghanistan is “hanging by a threat” just six months after Taliban forces took over the country and it is facing another brutal winter with people burning possessions to keep warm and over half of the population of 39 million suffering extreme levels of hunger and over 80 per cent relying on contaminated drinking water, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council.

“For Afghans, daily life has become a frozen hell,” Guterres said. Other extreme conditions include clinics overcrowded and under resources;

Covid-19, deadly preventable diseases like measles, diarrhea and even polio and some families forced to sell their babies to purchase food.

“There is a danger that the currency could go into freefall, and the country could lose 30 per cent of its GDP within the year,” he said pointing out that liquidity has evaporated as sanctions and mistrust by the global banking system have frozen nearly $9 billion in central bank assets.

“As the economy spirals downward, human rights are also losing ground,” the UN leader said, citing the plight of women who lost their jobs and girls shut-out of their classrooms, and arbitrary arrests and abductions of women activists. “Meanwhile, terrorism remains a constant threat – not only to the security of Afghanistan itself, but to the entire world.”

Guterres urged the council to support recommendations and humanitarian programs that the UN team in Afghanistan was launching to assist  Afghanistan and to jump-start the country’s economy through increased liquidity.

While Guterres briefed the 15-nation Security Council at UN headquarters in New York, UN officials leading the humanitarian programs for Afghanistan launched the One-UN Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) to assist Afghan people in 2022. They said TEF is the “overarching strategic planning document, ensuring the coordination of the UN team’s work to reduce the suffering of the people of Afghanistan by saving lives, sustaining essential services—such as health and education—and preserving essential community systems.”

“This UN system wide strategy will help ensure that Afghans can meet their basic human needs; acting on this now is more important than ever to avoid that an even wider proportion of the population requires lifesaving humanitarian assistance. It’s especially important now as millions are suffering with the harsh winter months, and we thank the international community for stepping up their vital support to the Afghan population,” said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov.

The UN team said in a press release that the $8 billion required to implement this UN-wide framework include the $4.44 billion previously requested through the Humanitarian Response Plan, launched on 11 January, since all the activities in the TEF complement one another and are interdependent. While the HRP aims to deliver lifesaving assistance to 22.1 million people, through the TEF, the UN requires an additional $3.6 billion in immediate funding to sustain essential social services such as health and education; support community systems through maintenance of basic infrastructure; and maintain critical capacities for service delivery and promotion of livelihoods and social cohesion, with specific emphasis on socio-economic needs of women and girls.

“The United Nations are grateful to all donors for their continued generous support of relief and recovery efforts in Afghanistan, demonstrating the strong solidarity of the international community with the people of Afghanistan,” Dr. Alakbarov said, launching the TEF in Kabul with UN team representatives and members of the international community. “With the world coming together in aid of the resilient Afghans, adherence to the principles of equity, transparency and accountability inscribed in TEF will work towards restoring hope and dignity for all Afghans.”

The press release said the European Union recently announced 268 million Euros (US$302 million) to meet the basic human needs of the Afghans. Key contributions also include $308 million from the United States as well as continued generous support from the UK, Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Republic of Korea and other donors.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $405 million in grants to support food security and sustain delivery of essential health and education services, while the World Bank (WB) and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) donors approved first transfer of $280 million in support of delivery of essential services. Staying and delivering at the grassroots level across Afghanistan, the UN and partners will continue to engage in the sustained effort to meet humanitarian and basic human needs of Afghans, in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 2615 adopted in December of 2021. 

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