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	One person estimated to be dying of hunger every four seconds by 238 non-governmental organisations   20 Sep. 2022   With one person estimated to be dying of hunger every four seconds, 238 local and international non-governmental organisations are calling on leaders gathering at the 77th UN General Assembly to take decisive action to end the spiralling global hunger crisis.   Organisations from 75 countries have signed an open letter expressing outrage at skyrocketing hunger levels and recommendations for action. A staggering 345 million people are now experiencing acute hunger, a number that has more than doubled since 2019.   Despite promises from world leaders to never allow famine again in the 21st century, famine is once more imminent in Somalia. Around the world, 50 million people are on the brink of starvation in 45 countries.   Dear UN Member States,   "No water, no food, a hopeless life. Above all, my children are starving. They are on the verge of death. Unless they get some food, I'm afraid they will die." - Sumaya, 32, mother of four, IDP camp in the Somali Region, Ethiopia   We, the undersigned 238 non-governmental organizations working with the most vulnerable communities and witnessing the catastrophic effects of the unprecedented global food crisis unfolding, urgently request that you act immediately to prevent more unnecessary suffering.   From Somalia to Haiti, South Sudan to Yemen, Afghanistan to Nigeria, people’s lives in the most fragile contexts are being devastated by a global food crisis, fueled by a deadly mix of conflict, climate change, rising costs and economic crises, exacerbated by COVID-19 and the Ukraine conflict.   Fifty million people are now just one step away from starvation. Over 345 million more are bowing under the crushing weight of hunger, struggling to feed their families and at risk of death.   Behind these statistics are real people and lack of action has horrific, real life and death consequences. For the woman who fled her country to escape the violence of war and now has her food ration halved or suspended completely. For the hungry child forced to drop out of school to work so their family can eat. For the young girl forced into marriage, where she faces sexual exploitation and abuse. And for the caregiver who makes the long journey to seek treatment for a severely malnourished toddler only to find the health clinic is closed due to funding shortages.   The international community and national governments are failing to meet their duty and have prioritised political and economic interests over the wellbeing of the world’s most vulnerable children, families and communities. While political leaders have made many promises, in the cities, towns, villages, and refugee and internal displacement camps where millions of lives hang in the balance, far too little has changed.   In a world of plenty, leaving people to starve is a policy choice. We call on you as world leaders to take urgent action to stem this crisis and prevent future ones.   You must immediately deliver the funding needed to reach 50 million people on the edge of starvation to save lives NOW. You must also support vulnerable countries and communities to build resilience now.   And you must take action to anticipate, prevent and prepare for subsequent crises to secure the future, including by delivering much needed climate finance, reallocated Special Drawing Rights, and meaningful debt relief.   We repeatedly miss the opportunity to prevent hunger and hardship from happening in the first place by not responding quickly enough to early warnings to save lives, build resilience, and make the smart investments needed to sustainably address hunger crises in the long term.   If the pandemic taught us anything it is that prevention is more humane and much less expensive than waiting to respond. The lack of political will and institutional failure to act quickly before the worst-case hits means people are being left to lurch from crisis to crisis. People are not starving; they are being starved.   Accompanying this letter, we outline a set of specific recommendations to help address the current hunger crisis and prevent future crises, endorsed by NGOs across the world.   We have already lost far too much time – the families we work with every day need action NOW.   The lives of millions of girls, boys, women, and men depend on the bold and courageous actions you, the United Nations Member States, take - or fail to take – when you gather at the UN General Assembly in the coming weeks.   We must not let people starve to death on our watch. There is no place for famine in the 21st century.   http://sdg2advocacyhub.org/news/open-letter-un-member-states-global-food-crisis http://reliefweb.int/report/world/humanitarian-organisations-estimate-one-person-dying-hunger-every-four-seconds   Jan. 2022   42 million people are at famine’s door, write Peyvand Khorsandi & Paul Anthem. (WFP)   A total 42 million people are on the brink of famine across 43 countries and the slightest shock will push them over the edge, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.   An instant cash injection of US$US6.6 billion would reel them back from the precipice, by providing a meal a day for each person for the next year. Without immediate emergency food assistance, they face starvation.   Issuing an urgent rallying call, WFP Chief Executive David Beasley said: “US$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don't reach them. It's not complicated.   "While COVID is undeniably exacerbating fragility around the world, manmade conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable.”   Afghanistan is becoming the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with the country's needs surpassing those of the other worst-hit countries — Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and even Yemen.   A total 22.8 million people now face acute food insecurity in Afghanistan according to the latest IPC assessment — a global standard for assessing food insecurity — including 8.7 million facing emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC phase 4). New figures expected in the coming days are likely to show the situation has worsened even further.   WFP has never seen this many people facing emergency levels of food insecurity in the country, in the 10 years that the UN has been conducting IPC analyses.   Across the world, 15 million more people are at risk of starvation than was the case before the the COVID-19 pandemic.   The slightest shock — be it extreme weather linked to climate change, conflict, or the deadly interplay of both hunger drivers — may push tens of millions of people into irreversible peril, a prospect WFP has been warning of for more than a year.   WFP is undertaking the biggest operation in its history, targeting 139 million people this year. But there are immense hurdles.   In 2020 extreme weather displaced 30 million people, while conflict displaced 10 million — figures that in tandem with the cost of responding are only expected to rise.   WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain explained how spiralling costs were affecting the organization's work and required urgent cash support.   "Food procurement prices are up 21 percent from a year ago — US$300 million more if we bought the same amount of food as last year,” he said. “Transport costs are through the roof because of high fuel prices — a container that cost US$1,000 a year ago now costs US$4,000 or even more.”   Updated figures due out this week are likely to paint an even bleaker picture of people in need, said Husain: "Don’t expect these numbers to go down unless we solve the conflicts, climate crises and economic fallout of COVID-19. I grieve when any child is harmed and we work every single day to give millions of children hope and a future."   WFP is uniquely positioned to stop famine in its tracks, and steer people away from the edge of starvation, with a deep-field presence, operations in over 80 countries and cutting-edge expertise acquired over decades fighting hunger.   The most powerful tool that WFP can deploy to save lives in the face of famine is emergency food assistance. This will remain critical to mitigate or avert the direct effects of food insecurity and famine in the short term.   To eliminate the threat of starvation and prevent famine entirely requires longer term and more complex interventions, including processes to strengthen education, nutrition, livelihood resilience and social protection systems.   http://hungermap.wfp.org/   http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-8-june-2023 http://www.wfp.org/publications/hunger-hotspots-fao-wfp-early-warnings-acute-food-insecurity-june-november-2023 http://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/increasing-risk-of-hunger-set-to-spread-in-hotspot-areas/en   811 million people go to bed hungry, by Dr. Charles Owubah. (Action Against Hunger)   A new report reveals the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global food insecurity and malnutrition. The flagship United Nations report - The State of the Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) - found that 9.9% of the global population is undernourished and as many as 811 million people are hungry, up from 690 million people in 2019.   This sharp spike in hunger rates has been driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and climate shocks.   “Hunger is preventable, yet every night, 811 million people go to bed hungry and millions more don’t know where their next meal will come from,” said Dr. Charles Owubah, CEO of Action Against Hunger, a global nonprofit leader in hunger prevention and treatment.   “An estimated 45.4 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of hunger. Each of these children has enormous potential to contribute to this beautiful world. We cannot afford to lose them to malnutrition. The world cannot stand by and allow their families to suffer more needless deaths.”   Hunger has been increasing since 2014, reversing decades of previous progress, and the new data confirm a sharp uptick since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Action Against Hunger staff are responding to the growing need in hotspots like Colombia, South Sudan and Yemen, and in more than 45 other countries.   SOFI found that the sharpest rise in hunger was in Africa, where 21 percent of the population is undernourished, more than double any other region. Globally, more than half of all undernourished people (418 million) live in Asia; more than a third (282 million) in Africa; and less than one-fifth (60 million) in Latin America and the Caribbean.   The report links increased hunger to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is far from over in much of the world, where infection rates are increasing and vaccine rollout remains slow and inequitable.   For many, the pandemic’s secondary impacts, including dangerous levels of hunger, are worse than the virus itself.   Disruptions in trade, movement restrictions, rising food prices, and deteriorating economies have made it harder for poor families to earn incomes and feed their children.   SOFI anticipates the pandemic will have a lasting residual impact on global food security, projecting that as many as 660 million people may still face hunger in 2030, 30 million more people than had the pandemic not occurred.   Climate change also disproportionately harms the poorest communities. Severe droughts, floods, storms, and other weather shocks – which have nearly doubled in the past twenty years - limit people’s capacity to produce food and earn an income. More than 80% of the world’s hungriest people live in disaster-prone countries.   Hunger is also both a cause and consequence of conflict. An estimated 60% of the world’s hungry people live in countries where there is active conflict, most of which are caused by disputes over food, water or the resources needed to produce them. Conflict disrupts harvests, hampers the delivery of humanitarian aid, and forces families to flee their homes.   “COVID-19, conflict, and the climate crisis exacerbate underlying weaknesses in health, food and social protection systems, threatening the lives of the most vulnerable members of society who are already struggling to survive,” said Owubah.   Action Against Hunger calls on the international community to invest in ensuring all people have access to basic services.   "We call on all countries to make bold financial and political commitments to end hunger. The world must act now to respond to the causes of food insecurity, make nutrition-sensitive investments, and take policy actions that create opportunities for the most vulnerable people,” said Owubah.   http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/online/cb4474en.html http://www.wfp.org/news/un-report-pandemic-year-marked-spike-world-hunger http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/new-data-reveals-nearly-10-global-population-hungry-growing-crisis-fueled-covid-19-climate http://www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk/press-releases/famine-action-letter Visit the related web page
	Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power by Norwegian Nobel Committee   Oslo, 8 October 2021   The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.   Ms Ressa and Mr Muratov are receiving the Peace Prize for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.   Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. In 2012, she co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism, which she still heads. As a journalist and the Rappler’s CEO, Ressa has shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression. Rappler has focused critical attention on the Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign. The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country’s own population. Ms Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse.   Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions. In 1993, he was one of the founders of the independent newspaper Novaja Gazeta. Since 1995 he has been the newspaper’s editor-in-chief for a total of 24 years. Novaja Gazeta is the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power. The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media.   Since its start-up in 1993, Novaja Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and ”troll factories” to the use of Russian military forces both within and outside Russia.   Novaja Gazeta’s opponents have responded with harassment, threats, violence and murder. Since the newspaper’s start, six of its journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaja who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya. Despite the killings and threats, editor-in-chief Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He has consistently defended the right of journalists to write anything they want about whatever they want, as long as they comply with the professional and ethical standards of journalism.   Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is convinced that freedom of expression and freedom of information help to ensure an informed public. These rights are crucial prerequisites for democracy and protect against war and conflict. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is intended to underscore the importance of protecting and defending these fundamental rights.   Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time.   http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/press-release/ http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/ressa/lecture/ http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/muratov/lecture/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1102592 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/08/journalists-maria-ressa-and-dmitry-muratov-win-nobel-peace-prize http://www.rappler.com/world/global-affairs/interview-maria-ressa-nobel-peace-prize-laureate-2021 http://rsf.org/en/news/2021-nobel-peace-prize-extraordinary-tribute-journalism-says-rsf http://informationdemocracy.org/news/ http://cpj.org/2021/10/cpj-congratulates-maria-ressa-and-dmitry-muratov-for-winning-the-2021-nobel-peace-prize/ http://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/future-of-journalism/article/ifj-congratulates-ressa-and-muratov-journalists-for-receiving-nobel-peace-prize.html http://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211008-muratov-and-novaya-gazeta-russia-s-independent-media-stalwarts Visit the related web page
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