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	ICC Prosecutor calls on all parties in Gaza conflict 'to comply with the law' by UN News, International Criminal Court, agencies   21 Nov. 2024 (UN News)   The UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, together with a former Hamas commander, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.   Judges on the ICC said there were reasonable grounds that the three men bore “criminal responsibility” for the alleged crimes committed “from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024” – the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest – the Court said in a press release.   “With regard to the crimes, the [Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I] found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu…and Mr. Gallant…bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” said the ICC.   The arrest warrants followed the ICC’s rejection of Israel’s challenges to the Court’s jurisdiction.   The warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif also alleges crimes against humanity and war crimes, although Israel has said that he was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July.   “The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Deif … is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence.”   The ICC said it was continuing to gather information regarding the reported death of Mr. Deif. As of 15 November, his status is unknown.   “The Prosecution also noted that it continues to investigate the crimes in the ongoing conflict and envisions that further applications for warrants of arrest will be submitted,” the release added.   The Prosecution had initially filed applications for warrants of arrest for two other senior Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. However, these were withdrawn following confirmations of their deaths.   The three arrest warrants are classified as “secret” to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of investigations. However, the Chamber decided to release the information due to the continuation of the war and likely violations of international law that are continuing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in particular the fact hostages continue to be held in Gaza.   “The Chamber considers it is also in the interest of victims and their families to be aware of the warrant’s existence,” the Court said.   In a statement issued later on Thursday the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that "our collective mind and focus should be on the victims of international crimes in Israel and in the State of Palestine."   He said during meetings with the victims and families of hostages taken on 7 October "and with victims from Gaza who have lost so many loved ones, I have underlined that the law is there for all, that its role is to vindicate the rights of all persons."   He stressed that the warrants had been sought in May following an independent investigation, and on the basis of objective, verifiable evidence, vetted through a forensic process.   "I appeal to all States Parties to live up to their commitment to the Rome Statute by respecting and complying with these judicial orders," said Mr. Khan. "We count on their cooperation in this situation, as with all other situations under the Court’s jurisdiction. We also welcome collaboration with non-States Parties in working towards accountability and upholding international law."   * The International Criminal Court (ICC) is not part of the United Nations but they have a cooperative and complementary relationship.   The ICC is an independent judicial body established by the Rome Statute, which was adopted in 1998 and came into force in 2002. It was established to address serious international crimes and ensure accountability when national justice systems are unable or unwilling to act.   * The Government of the State of Israel rejects the court's findings, stating it's actions are in self-defence of it's population.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157286 http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-issuance-arrest-warrants-situation-state-palestine http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-issues-warrant-arrest-mohammed-diab-ibrahim   Aug. 2024   UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. (12/8/2024):   "75 years ago today, the Geneva Conventions were put in place to protect civilians in times of wars. They are the universal “Rules of War” meant to limit the devastating impact of wars and conflicts on humanity. The one set of rules we “all agree on”, but do we?   In the past 10 months, these rules have been blatantly broken day in, day out in Gaza by the Israeli Forces as well as the Palestinian armed groups including Hamas.   More concerning, Member States- party to the Geneva Conventions - have failed in their responsibilities to respect the conventions and ensure that parties to the conflict respect them under all circumstances.   Our shared values enshrined in the Conventions are at stake as is our shared humanity. It is time to re-instate those values and re-commit to the Conventions. They are the compass of international humanitarian law.   The basics still apply: Civilians, women, children, detainees must be protected. Schools, hospitals, people’s homes, humanitarian and UN staff, facilities & operations must be protected". http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153101   May 2024   The war in Gaza has become a moral stain on the conscience of our collective humanity, by Joyce Msuya, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:   Seven months of fighting have turned Gaza into a hellscape for millions trapped under incessant bombardment. The war has killed over 35,000 people; 80,000 more are wounded or missing, with many more trapped under the rubble. For months, women and children have been killed at a rate that exceeds any war in this century.   And those who’ve escaped death and injury now risk losing their lives because of a lack of food, safe water, medicine and healthcare.   Every day, scores of women give birth in horrifying conditions, often without anesthesia or medical aid, as bombs explode around them. Mothers watch their babies die in their arms because they don’t have enough milk to keep them alive. And children are dying because they don’t have enough food or water.   What aid makes it into Gaza is being delivered by humanitarian workers who are forced to navigate checkpoints, unexploded bombs and intense fighting – at tremendous risk to their own lives.   This war – which has caused such pain, suffering and grief – must end so that the Palestinian people can begin to confront the trauma inflicted on them. I echo the Secretary-General’s longstanding call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and the immediate and unconditional release of hostages.   To reach people in need, we need multiple, reliable entry points for aid. We need law and order. And humanitarian workers must be protected, and not attacked. Until we have safe routes, the flow of aid simply will not match the enormous scale of the catastrophe.   We need Israeli authorities to abide by their obligations to facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid and humanitarian workers. This includes for UNRWA, which has been the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza for decades and is best positioned to respond to the dire needs of the Palestinian people.   http://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel http://news.un.org/en/focus-topic/middle-east http://www.ochaopt.org/updates http://reliefweb.int/country/pse http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/11/asg-brands-kehris-warns-security-council-catastrophic-human-rights-situation-gaza http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/11/there-must-be-due-reckoning-horrific-violations-possible-atrocity-crimes http://www.unocha.org/news/brutal-reality-gaza-worsening-day-acting-un-relief-chief-warns-security-council http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-112/en/ http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/one-year-unimaginable-suffering-7-october-attack-enarhe http://www.wfp.org/news/critical-food-aid-lifelines-northern-gaza-severed   http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-these http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-middle-east-and-north-africa-regional-director-adele-khodr-impact http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/northern-gaza-aid-organisations-warn-dramatic-escalation-humanitarian-catastrophe-following-further-mass-forced-displacement-civilians   http://www.care-international.org/news/nowhere-safe-gaza-attacks-al-mawassi-kill-dozens-people-and-leave-hundreds-more-injured http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1152081 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1151921 http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-situation-gaza-strip http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/gaza-hunger-figures-reflect-shameful-failure-global-leaders-oxfam http://www.msf.org/no-end-sight-repeated-trauma-displacement-people-gaza   20 May 2024 (UN News)   Arrest warrants are being sought for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war in Gaza, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday.   In a statement, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh “bear criminal responsibility” for murder, extermination and taking hostages – among numerous other crimes – since the Gaza conflict erupted in the wake of Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October.   There are also reasonable grounds to believe that Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Israeli Minister of Defence, are responsible for other crimes and crimes against humanity “committed on the territory of the State of Palestine”.   These include “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime… intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population [and] extermination and/or murder”.   Although the ICC is not a UN organisation, it has an agreement of cooperation with the United Nations. And when a situation is not within the court's jurisdiction, the UN Security Council can refer the situation to the ICC, granting it jurisdiction.   To complement the allegations, Prosecutor Khan, a British national, noted that his Office had interviewed victims and survivors of the 7 October Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel.   This included former hostages and eyewitnesses “from six major attack locations: Kfar Aza, Holit, the venue of the Supernova Music Festival, Be’eri; Nir Oz and Nahal Oz”.   “It is the view of my Office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on 7 October 2023 and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes,” Prosecutor Khan said.   “Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability,” he added.   Turning to the hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, the ICC official noted that his Office had interviewed victims and survivors and that this information along with other sources indicated that they had been kept in inhumane conditions with some subjected to sexual violence, including rape.   “I wish to express my gratitude to the survivors and the families of victims of the 7 October attacks for their courage in coming forward to provide their accounts to my Office,” Prosecutor Khan said. “We remain focused on further deepening our investigations of all crimes committed as part of these attacks and will continue to work with all partners to ensure that justice is delivered.”   On the issue of the liability of the top Israeli officials Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant, the ICC Prosecutor alleged “starvation as a method of war”.   This and other crimes against humanity were allegedly committed “as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy”.   To reinforce the allegations, Mr. Khan cited “interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements” which showed “that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival”.   Detailing the impact of “total siege” imposed by Israel on Gaza after 8 October 2023, the ICC request to judges explained that this involved “completely closing” the three border crossing points – Rafah, Kerem Shalom in the south and Erez in the north – “for extended periods and then by arbitrarily restricting the transfer of essential supplies – including food and medicine – through the border crossings after they were re-opened”.   Among other deprivations, the Israeli siege also cut off water and electricity pipelines to Gaza, the ICC Prosecutor continued, noting that Gazans also faced physical attacks when queuing for food while other “attacks on and killing of aid workers… forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations”.   The effects of this State policy were “acute, visible and widely known”, Mr. Khan said, noting the UN Secretary-General’s warning some two months ago that “1.1 million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger – the highest number of people ever recorded anywhere, anytime” as a result of an “entirely man-made disaster”.   Although Israel has the right to defend itself under international law, Mr. Khan insisted that “intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering” to civilians were clear breaches of the ICC’s foundational charter, signed in Rome in 2002. Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute while Palestine is.   “I have consistently emphasised that international humanitarian law demands that Israel take urgent action to immediately allow access to humanitarian aid in Gaza at scale. I specifically underlined that starvation as a method of war and the denial of humanitarian relief constitute Rome Statute offences.”   No one is above the law   In addition to the request to judges to issue warrants, the ICC statement noted that it was pursuing “multiple and interconnected additional lines of inquiry” into crimes committed since 7 October.   These include further allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attacks and widespread bombardment in Gaza "that has caused and continues to cause so many civilian deaths, injuries and suffering”.   "Today, we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity," Mr. Khan said, while also highlighting his concern over escalating violence in the West Bank.   "Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, the basic necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians."   In a call to all parties in the Gaza conflict “to comply with the law now”, the ICC Prosecutor said his Office “will not hesitate to submit further applications for warrants of arrest if and when we consider that the threshold of a realistic prospect of conviction has been met”.   Unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - which is the UN’s principal judicial organ for settling disputes between countries - the ICC tries individuals. The ICC is a permanent court based in The Hague, unlike temporary tribunals such as those set up to try grave crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.   According to ICC documentation, the court’s policy is to focus on those who “bear the greatest responsibility for the crimes” committed. No one is exempt from prosecution and there is no exemption for heads of State of Government.   The decision over whether to issue arrest warrants will be taken by the Pre-Trial Chambers, which must also confirm the alleged charges.   Once an arrest warrant is issued and if the alleged perpetrator is arrested on the charges sought by the Prosecutor, a Trial Chamber is then created, headed by three judges.   Once the trial has ended, the judges “may impose a sentence of imprisonment for a specified number of years not exceeding a maximum of thirty years or life imprisonment”, the ICC said.   * ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan KC: "I have been grateful for the advice of a panel of experts in international law, an impartial group I convened to support the evidence review and legal analysis in relation to these arrest warrant applications.   The Panel is composed of experts of immense standing in international humanitarian law and international criminal law, including Sir Adrian Fulford PC, former Lord Justice of Appeal and former International Criminal Court Judge; Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, President of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute; Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC, former Deputy Legal Adviser at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Danny Friedman KC; and two of my Special Advisers – Amal Clooney and His Excellency Judge Theodor Meron CMG.   This independent expert analysis has supported and strengthened the applications filed today by my Office. I have also been grateful for the contributions of a number of my other Special Advisers to this review, particularly Adama Dieng and Professor Kevin Jon Heller".   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1149966 http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state http://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/240520-panel-report-eng.pdf http://www.icc-cpi.int/palestine http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2024/05/20/amanpour-icc-karim-khan-arrest-warrants-hamas-netanyahu.cnn http://www.icc-cpi.int/situations-under-investigations http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/israelgaza-threats-against-icc-promote-culture-impunity-say-un-experts http://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/all-eyes-hague-icc-prosecutors http://www.ohchr.org/en/media-centre/statements-grave-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-and-israel http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/17/october-7-crimes-against-humanity-war-crimes-hamas-led-groups http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/07/israel-opt-hamas-and-other-armed-groups-must-immediately-release-civilians-held-hostage-in-gaza/ http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/aid-agencies-demand-concrete-action-protect-palestinians-number-israeli-settler-attacks-7-october-surpasses-1000 http://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240628-urbicide-even-if-israel-stops-bombing-gaza-tomorrow-it-will-be-impossible-to-live-there   24 May 2024 (UN News)   The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued new provisional measures that order Israel to immediately end military operations in Rafah in southern Gaza and to open the governate’s border crossing for urgent aid deliveries.   This follows a request from South Africa in a pending case accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention.   Reading the new provisional measures in an open session at the court in The Hague, ICJ Justice Nawaf Salam announced that Israel must abide by its obligations under the Genocide Convention to “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governate which may inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole and in part”.   The court issued that decision by 13 votes in favour to two against.   The new provisional measures came in response to South Africa’s request made on 10 May related to its initial accusations in December that Israel is violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention during the war in Gaza, which broke out after Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October that killed more than 1,200 people and left another 250 taken hostage.   Israel’s military response has, to date, killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction and a looming famine in the besieged and bombarded enclave.   Court orders opening of Rafah border crossing   Given the worsening conditions on the ground since Israel’s incursion into Rafah on 7 May, the court decided, also by votes of 13 in favour to two against, the new provisional measures shall require Israel to open the Rafah crossing for the unhindered delivery of urgent humanitarian aid and ensure unimpeded access for fact-finding missions to investigate allegations of genocide.   The Rafah border crossing, which has been the main entry point for aid to the enclave, has been closed since 7 May.   “The court is not convinced that evacuation efforts and related measures that Israel has affirmed to have undertaken to enhance the security of civilians in the Gaza Strip, and in particular those recently displaced from the Rafah governate, are sufficient to alleviate immense risks to which the Palestinian population is exposed as a result of the military offensive in Rafah,” Mr. Salam said.   In addition, the ICJ ordered Israel to submit a report within one month on steps taken to implement these provisional measures.   Deteriorating conditions   Mr. Salam said the ICJ had noted that the situation in Gaza has deteriorated since it last issued provisional measures in March, adding that since Israel’s incursion into Rafah, the Najjar Hospital was no longer functioning and aid efforts have been impacted.   The court also noted that Israel’s evacuation orders for Rafah residents had led more than 800,000 people to flee to places like the coastal area of Al Mawasi, which lacked the basic essentials and services to accommodate them.   Since taking up South Africa’s case in January, the ICJ had already issued provisional measures in January and March by which Israel must, among other things, take all steps to ensure sufficient humanitarian aid enters Gaza. However, UN agencies are reporting that scant aid is currently entering Gaza.   Court reiterates call to release hostages   Mr. Salam recalled that in the two previous orders for provisional measures “the court expressed its grave concern over the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since then by Hamas and other armed groups, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.”   He said “the court finds it deeply troubling that many of these hostages remain in captivity and reiterates its call for their immediate and unconditional release.”   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1150196 http://www.unocha.org/news/statement-rafah-martin-griffiths-under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency http://www.wfp.org/stories/gaza-updates-wfp-targets-soup-kitchens-supplies-dwindle-and-bakeries-close-rafah http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-regional-director-middle-east-and-north-africa-adele-khodr-0 http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support http://www.ohchr.org/en/media-centre/statements-grave-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-and-israel http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/un-report-palestinian-detainees-held-arbitrarily-and-secretly-subjected http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-israel/index   28 Mar. 2024   The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued new provisional measures for Israel as the humanitarian situation in besieged Gaza continues to deteriorate. (UN News)   The ICJ provisional measures state that Israel, “in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation”, shall take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.   The measures outline that the required aid includes food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care.   The fresh ICJ order also calls on Israel, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, to undertake those measures, “including by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary”.   UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reminded journalists at the daily news briefing that the ICJ operates independently. “We do believe as a matter of principle that all Member States abide by decisions of the court,” he said.   The ICJ was established by the UN Charter as the principal judicial organ of the UN.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1148096   26 Jan. 2024   The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has declared that Palestinians had a right to be protected from acts of genocide, calling on Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent such actions and allow the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the war-shattered enclave.   Reading out the order at the Peace Palace in The Hague – in response to allegations of genocide against Israel by South Africa, which Israel denies – ICJ President Joan Donoghue also called for the release of all remaining hostages taken from Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on Israeli communities in which some 1,200 people were massacred on 7 October.   There was no explicit call for an immediate halt to Israel’s full-scale military operation in the Strip, which is believed to have left more than 26,000 dead, according to Gaza health authorities.   Highlighting that the ICJ was “acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy unfolding in the region” since war erupted in Gaza, Judge Donoghue said that the court remained “deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering”.   The UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted in a statement the measures pertaining to the Israeli military laid out in the provisional ruling and stressed that "decisions of the Court are binding" and trusts that all parties will duly comply with the order from the Court.   "In accordance with the Statute of the Court, the Secretary-General will promptly transmit the notice of the provisional measures ordered by the court to the Security Council," UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.   South Africa’s case   In its case, which began earlier this month in The Hague, South Africa asked the court – a principal organ of the UN – to indicate provisional measures in order to “protect against further severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention”.   Among the measures South Africa asked for was the immediate suspension of military operations by Israel in the Strip and that its forces take “all reasonable measures” to prevent genocide.   South Africa also asked the world court to order Israel to prevent forced displacement, allow adequate food and water to reach civilians and ensure that evidence of any potential genocide is preserved.   Provisional measures are a type of temporary injunction ahead of a final decision on the dispute. It is likely to take years before a judgement is reached. The measures are considered “mandatory for implementation”, but the Court has no means of enforcing them.   Israel argued in presenting its case that the war on Hamas was one purely of defence and “not against the Palestinian people”.   Lawyers for Israel said that provisional measures, if granted, would amount to “an attempt to deny Israel its ability to meet its obligations to the defence of its citizens, to the hostages and to over 110,000 displaced Israelis”.   Court order   Detailing the provisional measures that Israel should implement, the ICJ judge noted that both South Africa and Israel were States parties to Genocide Convention and therefore had agreed “to prevent and to punish the crime of genocide”.   Quoting article 2 of the key international treaty signed in the aftermath of the Second World War, Judge Donoghue explained that genocide was defined as “acts committed with an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.   The two-million-strong Palestinian population did indeed constitute a distinct group in the court’s view, she said.   Turning to the article 3 of the Genocide Convention, which prohibits “conspiracy to commit genocide” and public incitement to commit genocide, the judge said that the ICJ had taken note of a number of statements made by senior Israeli officials.   These included comments by Yoav Galant, Defense Minister of Israel, who reportedly told troops on the border with the enclave that they were fighting “human animals” who were the “ISIS of Gaza”.   With Israel’s and South Africa’s legal teams looking on, Judge Donoghue noted the international community’s longstanding concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza which had formed part of its deliberations.   This included the UN Secretary-General's written warning to the Security Council on 6 December 2023 in which he said that “nowhere is safe in Gaza amid constant bombarding by the Israeli Defense Forces” and that the situation was “fast-deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region”.   Summaries on the dire situation in Gaza from UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Palestine relief agency chief Philippe Lazzarini were also quoted directly in the court's decision.   In addition to the provisional measures delivered on Friday, the UN’s top court also asked Israel to submit a report within a month “on all measures taken to give effect to this order”.   * Humanitarian actors have stressed that a ceasefire is required to be able to adequately distribute humanitarian aid to the civilan population of Gaza.   # You can read the ICJ order in full and watch the full video of the judgement via the link below: http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145937   * 1.1 million people in Gaza are projected to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity between March and July 2024, up from 378,000 in December 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis released on 18 March:   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147656 http://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel http://www.unicef.org/mena/press-releases/statement-adele-khodr-unicef-regional-director-middle-east-and-north-africa-1 http://www.wfp.org/news/childrens-lives-threatened-rising-malnutrition-gaza-strip http://www.nutritioncluster.net/news/nutrition-vulnerability-and-situation-analysis-gaza http://www.ochaopt.org/content/mr-ramesh-rajasingham-updating-security-council-food-security-risks-gaza http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-civilians-gaza-extreme-peril http://www.savethechildren.net/news/gaza-time-running-out-reports-emerging-children-dying-due-lack-food-save-children   http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-tells-security-council-take-urgent-action-end-war-gaza http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156749/ http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-risk-famine-gaza-strip http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/barely-drop-drink-children-gaza-strip-do-not-access-90-cent-their-normal-water-use http://www.wfp.org/stories/humanitarian-operations-risk-conflict-strangles-gaza http://www.who.int/news/item/15-01-2024-preventing-famine-and-deadly-disease-outbreak-in-gaza-requires-faster--safer-aid-access-and-more-supply-routes   http://www.icrc.org/en/document/gaza-risk-complete-medical-shut-down-without-urgent-action-preserve-services http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unrwas-lifesaving-aid-may-end-due-funding-suspension-enar http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unrwa-funding-cuts-threaten-palestinian-lives-gaza-and-region-say-ngos http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-we-cannot-abandon-people-gaza http://www.ohchr.org/en/media-centre/statements-grave-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-and-israel
	Global military expenditure reaches record high of $2440bn as critical humanitarian aid is cut by WFP, UNICEF, OCHA, New Humanitarian, agencies   As the United Nations 2024 Global Humanitarian funding appeal, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, UNHCR, the Red Cross and humanitarian agencies face serious shortfalls in funding to address the most urgent needs of over 350 million people in crisis, news agencies report bumper profits for billionaires, record company super profits and a new world record for global military spending.   http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-10-february-2024 http://www.wfp.org/stories/2023-pictures-ration-cuts-threaten-catastrophe-millions-facing-hunger http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/global-hunger-funding-gap-hit-65-percent-for-neediest-countries/ http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2024/ http://www.savethechildren.net/news/2023-review-nearly-16000-children-day-plunged-hunger-top-10-worsening-food-crises   Apr. 2024   Dangerous levels of acute hunger affected at least 281.6 million people last year – the fifth year in a row that food insecurity has worsened – heightening growing fears of famine and “widespread death” from Gaza to Sudan and beyond.   According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises, more than one in five people in 59 countries faced acute food insecurity in 2023.   “When we talk about acute food insecurity, we are talking about hunger so severe that it poses an immediate threat to people's livelihoods and lives. This is hunger that threatens to slide into famine and cause widespread death,” said Dominique Burgeon, Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Liaison Office in Geneva.   Food crises escalated alarmingly in 2023, the report’s authors noted, citing particular concerns over Gaza and Sudan today “where people are clearly dying of hunger”, said Gian Carlo Cirri, WFP Director, Geneva office.   After nearly seven months of conflict in Gaza, “people cannot meet even the most basic, food needs. They have exhausted all coping strategies. They are destitute and clearly some are dying of hunger,” Mr. Cirri said.   "The only way to halt the famine is to ensure daily deliveries of food supplies in a very short time. Like tomorrow, we really need to significantly increase our food supplies. This means rolling out massive and consistent food assistance in conditions that allow humanitarian staff and supplies to move freely and for affected people to access safely the assistance.”   “We are getting closer by the day to a famine situation. We estimate 30 per cent of children below the age of two are now acutely malnourished or wasted and 70 per cent of the population in the north is facing catastrophic hunger,” WFP’s Mr. Cirri said. “There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds – food insecurity, malnutrition, mortality – will be passed in the next six weeks.”   On Sudan, the UN report notes that 20.3 million people – or 42 per cent of the population – struggled to find enough to eat last year, after conflict erupted in April. This represents the highest number of people in the world facing “emergency” levels of acute food insecurity, or phase four, in line with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warning scale, where phase five (IPC5) indicates the highest level of danger.   The report also warned that people in South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali likely endured the worst levels of food insecurity – IPC 5 – in 2023.   Data was not available for some countries where there have been enduring fears over food crises, including Ethiopia, the report’s authors noted, while also pointing out that in Haiti, thousands of people were identified as IPC5 from September 2022 to February 2023.   39 countries faced emergency – IPC4 – levels of acute food insecurity last year, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen.   “Households in this severe situation face large food gaps, which are either reflected in high acute malnutrition rates and excess mortality,” the Global Report on Food Crises noted.   Children and women are among those at the forefront of the hunger crises, with over 36 million children under 5 years of age acutely malnourished across 32 countries, the report shows. Acute malnutrition worsened among people displaced because of conflict and disasters in 2023.   Drivers of food crises   Intensifying conflict and insecurity, the impacts of economic shocks, and the effects of extreme weather events are continuing to drive acute food insecurity. These interlinked drivers are exacerbating food systems fragility, rural marginalization, poor governance, and inequality, and lead to massive displacement of populations globally. The protection situation of displaced population is additionally impacted by food insecurity.   Conflict remained the primary driver affecting 20 countries with nearly 135 million people in acute food insecurity – almost half of the global number. The Sudan faced the largest deterioration due to conflict, with 8.6 million more people facing high levels of acute food insecurity as compared with 2022.   Extreme weather events were the primary drivers in 18 countries where over 77 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, up from 12 countries with 57 million people in 2022. In 2023, the world experienced its hottest year on record and climate related shocks impacted populations, with episodes of severe floods, storms, droughts, wildfires, and pest and disease outbreaks.   Economic shocks primarily affected 21 countries where around 75 million people were facing high levels of acute food insecurity, due to their high dependency on imported food and agricultural inputs, persisting macroeconomic challenges, including currency depreciation, high prices and high debt levels.   Tackling food crises requires urgent long-term national and international investment to boost agricultural and rural development alongside greater crisis preparedness and critical lifesaving assistance at scale, where people need it most.   Peace and prevention must also become an integral part of the longer-term food systems transformation. Without this, people will continue to face a lifetime of hunger and the most vulnerable will starve.   Since 2023, needs have outpaced available resources. Humanitarian operations are now desperately overstretched, with many being forced to scale-down and further cut support to the most vulnerable.   More equitable and effective global economic governance is imperative and must be matched with government led plans that seek to reduce and end hunger.   The Global Network Against Food Crises urgently calls for a transformative approach that integrates peace, prevention and development action alongside at-scale emergency efforts to break the cycle of acute hunger which remains at unacceptably high levels.   http://www.fsinplatform.org/report/global-report-food-crises-2024/   22 Apr. 2024   Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) reports global military spending of $2440 billion in 2023.   Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.   The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.   The two largest spenders – the United States (37%) and China (12%) – made up around half of global military spending, increasing their expenditure by 2.3% and 6% respectively. While dwarfed by the US in military spending, China, as the world’s second biggest spender, allocated an estimated $296bn in 2023, an increase of 6% on 2022. Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and the UK follow in Sipri’s league table..   http://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2024/global-military-spending-surges-amid-war-rising-tensions-and-insecurity   Mar. 2024   The Forbes 2024 Billionaires list reports that the number of worldwide billionaires grew by 141 in the past year, with 2,781 people holding wealth that exceeds $1 billion. These people own combined assets of $14.2 trillion, exceeding the gross domestic product of every country in the world except the U.S. and China.   Their collective wealth has risen by 120% in the past decade, at the same time as billions of people across the world have seen their living standards decrease in the face of inflation and the cost of living crisis.   “It’s been an amazing year for the world’s richest people, with more billionaires around the world than ever before,” said Chase Peterson-Withorn, Forbes’ wealth editor. “Even during times of financial uncertainty for many, the super-rich continue to thrive.”   Luke Hildyard, the executive director for the High Pay Centre thinktank, said: “The billionaire list is essentially an annual calculation of how much of the wealth created by the global economy is captured by a tiny caste of oligarchs rather than being used to benefit humanity as a whole. It should be the most urgent mission to spread this wealth more evenly.”   While the global population is "living through incredibly unequal times, lurching from one crisis to the next," says Robert Palmer, executive director of Tax Justice U.K., the richest people in the world amass "extraordinary levels of wealth."   "World leaders need to ensure the super rich are paying their fair share, for example through introducing wealth taxes. This would help provide the resources needed to tackle multiple crises from hunger, to inequality and climate change."   Jan. 2024   Taxing windfall profits of fossil fuels and financial companies. (ActionAid, Oxfam)   In the two years running up to June 2023, 36 companies (14 in fossil fuels and 22 in the banking sector), made windfall profits of US$424 billion. These are not their overall profits, these are just the profits that are above and beyond their normal profits.   In the last two years, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and high inflation and interest rates in much of the world have helped contribute to the bumper profits of fossil fuels companies and the banking sector. By applying a 90% tax on these windfall profits, close to US$382bn could be raised. This money is urgently needed to address hunger, for climate action, to protect vulnerable communities and to build resilience through improved social protection and public services.   Dec. 2023   With 333 million people facing acute food insecurity, WFP faces a 60 percent shortfall in funding to address urgent needs.   What WFP cuts mean for people in hunger crises around the world. (New Humanitarian)   Amid an unprecedented global hunger crisis fuelled by climate change and conflict, the World Food Programme’s bleak funding outlook has forced it to make deep cuts to the assistance it provides to many people experiencing acute hunger around the world.   “Today, WFP is facing a 60% funding shortfall,” a WFP spokesperson told The New Humanitarian via email on 13 December. “Nearly half of 86 WFP country operations have already implemented, or plan to shortly implement, significant reductions in the size and scope of life-saving food, cash and nutrition assistance programmes.”   Globally, more than 333 million people are facing acute food insecurity. The cuts to WFP programming could push 24 million more people into that category over the course of the next year, the UN agency estimated in September.   A series of often overlapping factors are driving the current global hunger crisis, including the effects of the climate crisis, conflict, disruptions to the global food supply chain caused by the war in Ukraine, sky-high inflation, and slow post-COVID-19 pandemic economic recoveries.   But hunger has deeper structural roots too. Food security systems in many colonised countries were weakened as communities were forced to grow export cash crops to suit the demands of colonial powers. In the post-colonial period, agricultural policies remained focused on exports at the expense of local needs, while global organisations pushed farmers to adopt industrial technologies that can erode food sovereignty. Hunger elimination was further undermined by the unequal trade system, by land-grabbing, and by the conditional lending practices of global financial institutions.   One of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies, WFP raised a record $14.1 billion last year – a substantial increase over the $8 billion it reported in 2019. But the funding hasn’t been able to keep pace with rising needs or the pace of inflation, which increased the agency’s procurement costs by 39% between 2019 and 2022.   For 2023, WFP says it needs $23.5 billion to fund its global operations but is projecting it will receive only $10 billion, a spokesperson told The New Humanitarian.   An expected, sector-wide “donor reset” could also see funding decrease significantly after years of growth, meaning the lean times at WFP – and their consequences for people facing hunger – may be here to stay for the foreseeable future.   A recent “Hunger Hotspots” report from WFP and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that acute food insecurity is likely to worsen in 18 hunger hotspots through April 2024, with highest concern of starvation in Burkina Faso, Mali, Palestine, South Sudan, and Sudan.   Over the course of the last several months, The New Humanitarian spoke to WFP staff and dozens of people in countries around the world who rely on the agency’s rations and cash assistance to better understand the impact of the cuts on those living on hunger’s edge.   Here’s a region-by-region breakdown:   Asia and the Pacific   Over half of the people in the world facing moderate to severe food insecurity reside in Asia and the Pacific, where the number of acutely food insecure people rose from 62.2 million in 2021 to more than 69.1 million by the end of 2022.   WFP’s cuts are having a particularly severe impact in countries where years-long crises are overlapping with disruptions to the global food supply chain, rising inflation, natural disasters, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis.   In Afghanistan, for example, the cuts have meant that WFP has been forced to choose “between the hungry and the starving”, Philippe Kropf, head of communications for the agency in the country, told The New Humanitarian during an aid distribution event in Kabul in September.   Kropf said some 15 million Afghans are currently facing some kind of hunger, but that WFP would only be able to reach three million of them as the country’s winter set in. The agency has had to drop 10 million Afghans from its assistance rolls in 2023.   There is “a new face of hunger” in Afghanistan, according to Kropf, one that is popping up in urban centres, where people were previously able to rely on blue and white collar salaries to feed their families.   Up to 900,000 jobs were lost in the country following the Western withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in August 2021.   Kropf said the new urban poor were among the first who lost assistance due to the WFP cutbacks. With its limited resources, the UN’s food agency has prioritised particularly vulnerable groups, such as widows, households headed by women, and children.   For those who continue to receive support, the monthly cash assistance amount WFP provides to households has also been cut from 5,000 afghanis (about $72) to 3,200 afghanis (about $46). That amount is intended to cover food costs for two weeks, rather than a full month. Because of the funding cuts, WFP is not able to provide even those still receiving aid a full monthly ration.   Razia, one woman at the distribution, who only provided her first name and was in her 30s, said she would use the money to try and feed her 11-person household. “Realistically, this will only buy us some flour and oil. That’s it,” she said.   Razia was grateful for the help she had received from WFP over the past four months, but said it just doesn’t go very far. “You try and try, but each month 3,000 afghanis will only really buy you a couple of items,” she said.   Kropf described Razia as one of the “fortunate ones” as her family is at least continuing to receive some assistance after the cuts.   The situation is also dire in Bangladesh, where around 900,000 Rohingya refugees who fled a campaign of genocidal violence by the military junta in neighbouring Myanmar are packed into sprawling tent settlements and overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar.   WFP has had to cut the assistance it provides back to just $8 per month – or $0.27 per day – from $12 at the beginning of the year, which was already considered the bare minimum people needed to be able to survive.   Mohammed Zonaid, who has lived in Cox’s Bazar since 2016, told The New Humanitarian that 2023 has been the worst year for Rohingya there. Zonaid, who shares his shelter with eight other members of his family, said the drop in financial assistance has shrunk the diets of people in the camps.   When families were receiving $12 per person, they could buy rice, lentils, onions, salt, cooking oil, and eggs each month. Now, families can only afford rice, cooking oil, and salt, according to Zonaid. “We are 100% dependent on what WFP provides us,” he added.   Africa   Multiple regions on the African continent are experiencing food crises due to the same overlapping effects mentioned above, and due to the long-term disruption of traditional food security systems by external forces during the colonial and post-colonial periods.   According to a new regional food security analysis, nearly 50 million people will face hunger in West and Central Africa in mid-2024, an increase of 4% from the same period this year. Conflict is driving this high number, according to the analysis, with the nutritional situation particularly worrying in Burkina Faso and Mali, where military juntas are battling jihadist insurgents.   In East Africa, 65 million people are facing acute food insecurity. Drought and flood events in the Horn of Africa region are among the most recent proximate causes, with Somalia suffering over 40,000 excess deaths last year, half of which may have been children under five. In Ethiopia, the impact of the war fought primarily in the northern Tigray region continues to be felt, with recovery hampered by the aid freeze ordered by WFP and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) over allegations of large-scale food theft. Hunger rates have also soared in Sudan since conflict broke out in April between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).   In Chad, WFP is struggling to feed more than 540,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur who fled to the east of the country between April and November, escaping massacres and acts of alleged ethnic cleansing by the RSF. As RSF atrocities continue, that number will only increase, while WFP said that food aid to 1.4 million people, including many of the newly arrived refugees, will end in January because of a shortage of funds. The UN’s emergency aid coordination body, OCHA, reports that 5.7 million people in Chad are food insecure, with 2.1 million suffering from acute hunger.   In September, The New Humanitarian witnessed a delayed food distribution operation in Ourang camp, one of the hastily built refugee settlements near the border town of Adre, which opened in June to accommodate Sudanese refugees. Many of those in need failed to receive assistance. “The number of refugees was much higher than the [distribution] lists,” said a frustrated WFP official, who asked not to be named.   The operation’s start was postponed by several days as aid trucks struggled to navigate eastern Chad’s rough roads, increasing the anxiety of the 44,000 refugees in Ourang waiting for rations.   “We received some sorghum sometime after we arrived in Chad [in June], but nothing since,” said Um Zuhor Adam Osman, a 19-year-old from El Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state. “It’s very difficult for us. Some people in the camp have received food, but we haven’t yet. The children eat only once a day.”   Malnutrition is widespread among the new arrivals. MSF supports a 250-bed paediatric ward in Adré hospital, which is always full.   “The kids were fine before. They never had to go to hospital when we were in Geneina,” said Zeinab Yacoub Arbab, a 29-year-old mother of two who lives with her family in the Ourang camp. “Everything was available there. But now we can’t feed them and ourselves properly. We left with nothing and don’t have money to buy food on the market. We are totally dependent on aid, and what we receive is not enough.”   In Uganda, WFP has had to cut the rations it provides to refugees several times since 2020. The country hosts more than 1.5 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations in the world. The WFP cuts have led people to go hungry and contributed to factors pushing many families to return to their countries of origin, even when they are not stable or safe.   WFP introduced its latest cuts in July after rolling out a new system based on refugee vulnerability. Those considered most vulnerable now get 60% of what WFP calls basic survival rations; the moderately vulnerable get 30%; and the least vulnerable get nothing.   Refugees told The New Humanitarian that the successive cuts and new “prioritisation” system have left them struggling to meet basic needs, especially as changing weather patterns make it harder for them to farm around their settlements.   In Bidi Bidi, a large refugee camp in northwestern Uganda, Loy Mama said her family has been eating only one meal a day to make the meagre rations they receive as members of category two last as long as possible.   “This food is not enough for me and these children,” Mama told The New Humanitarian during a visit to Bidi Bidi in August. “I do not know how I will complete a month.”   Moses Nyang, a South Sudanese refugee in the Adjumani settlement, which is also in the northwest, said the prioritisation system has had a negative impact on community cohesion.   “It has set refugees against themselves,” said Nyang. “It compromises our peaceful co-existence. You are getting something; I am not getting something. What do you expect my attitude towards you to be?”   Middle East and North Africa   The Middle East relies heavily on food imports, exposing countries with food insecurity due to war and economic collapse to new fluctuations in global food prices due to the war in Ukraine and ongoing supply chain issues. Increasing heat waves and droughts make conditions even worse, with local farms producing less food and income.   An April World Bank report predicted that economies in the Middle East and North Africa would grow at a slower pace this year, with double-digit food inflation hitting poorer households and threatening food security.   "The report estimates that close to one out of five people living in developing countries in MENA is likely to be food insecure this year,” said Roberta Gatti, World Bank Chief Economist for the MENA region, in a statement released with the report. “Almost 8 million children under 5 years of age are among those who will be hungry. Food price inflation, even if it is temporary, can cause long-term and often irreversible damage.”   That’s not taking into account the war in Gaza, where 63% of people were estimated to be food insecure even before Israel began bombing and laying siege to the enclave in October – following the deadly attack and hostage-taking by the Palestinian political and militant group Hamas. A recent WFP assessment found that, with around 85% of the population forced to flee their homes, extremely limited and irregular aid access, and no commercial goods allowed in by Israel or Egypt, food consumption levels are “extremely alarming”.   People desperate for food have broken into UN warehouses; and at the end of a December ceasefire WFP warned that renewed fighting “will only intensify the catastrophic hunger crisis that already threatens to overwhelm the civilian population”.   Some of the countries in the region where WFP works have long-standing problems with food insecurity and poverty. Yemen, home to one of its largest interventions in the world, has been on the edge of famine more than once since its war began in 2015. As of the end of October, 13 million people in a country of around 29 million were receiving food assistance, although low funding meant “reduced rations equivalent to 41%” of the standard food basket.   In early December, WFP announced it was pausing its general food distributions in northern parts of the country controlled by Houthi rebels, due to limited funding and “the absence of an agreement with the authorities on a smaller programme that matches available resources to the neediest families”.   Even before these changes, WFP estimated that food insecurity – as of October – was down slightly from the previous year: 50% of households it surveyed in parts of the country controlled by the internationally recognised government were still unable to meet their minimum food needs – the number was 46% for households surveyed in parts of the country run by the Sana’a-based Houthis.   The situation is also growing increasingly dire in Syria, where conflict, economic collapse, the climate crisis, and the aftermath of earthquakes earlier this year are overlapping with global factors and severe aid underfunding to drive a hunger crisis. A WFP spokesperson told The New Humanitarian by email that 12.7 million people were projected to be food insecure across the country in 2024, with a further 2.6 million “at risk of falling into hunger”. The agency predicts a 29% increase in the number of severely food insecure people living in camps for internally displaced people in the country in 2024, as compared to this year.   Suhaib Abdou, 40, lives with his family of 14 in a camp for displaced people in Kafr Aruq, in the northern countryside of rebel-held Idlib province. Home for his wife, five sons, and seven daughters is a well-worn tent, six metres long and four metres wide, in which they have sectioned off a kitchen, a sitting room, and a space for sleeping.   The camp where they live is home to 295 families in total, and there are only 11 shared restroom blocks, or one block for every 27 families. Hunger and humanitarian needs have been rising for years in the rebel-held northwest, which is home to 4.5 million people; 2.9 million have been displaced at least once. The last few months have seen an increase in bombings by the Syrian government and its Russian allies, forcing even more people to flee their homes.   Abdou began receiving food aid after he had to flee his own home in the city of Saraqib in late 2019. His family currently receives one food basket from WFP every 60 days, down from once every 30 days in the past. He said the contents of the basket were reduced in the spring.   “We’re having one meal a day,” Abdou said. “When he can, my brother living abroad sends me some money to buy food for my kids.”   Without the extra cash, the family struggles to get enough to eat.   “If my brother doesn’t send me money, I’m not able to provide food for my kids,” he said. “There are kids who go to the trash containers to get food when their share is out, and they sometimes collect scraps to sell it so they can buy bread.”   Abdou said his family doesn’t eat fruit, vegetables, or meat because they can’t afford them. “If the amount is decreased again, you won’t find a camp that will agree to receive the aid as it’s not enough for anything,” he added.   Abdou spoke to The New Humanitarian before the WFP’s early December announcement that, starting in January 2024, it would be stopping its general food assistance programme in Syria altogether.   The WFP spokesperson said that low funding forced WFP to reduce the number of people who receive general food assistance from 5.5 to 3.2 million in July. That lower number “will no longer receive general food assistance from January 2024 onwards”, according to the spokesperson.   The total number of people who will still receive some sort of WFP aid in Syria is not clear, as some programmes – including those for earthquake survivors – will likely be ongoing. And general food aid could be restarted if new funding comes in but, for now, the spokesperson said that “discontinuation of general food assistance amid this situation is expected to have serious consequences on people who need it the most”.   Latin America and the Caribbean   Between 2021 and 2022, the prevalence of hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean fell from 7% to 6.5% of the region’s population – or some 43.2 million people. But this bird’s-eye view masks a dramatic rise in hunger in the Caribbean and fails to capture that in some countries, such as Ecuador, overall hunger rates plateaued while the percentage of people slipping from moderately to severely food insecure increased.   In 2023, WFP only received funding to finance 37% of identified needs, reducing mostly its emergency response activities. Cuts have already affected four countries: Haiti, Ecuador, Honduras, and Colombia.   In Colombia, WFP’s funding has dropped by 30% to 40% this year, and in Ecuador by 50% for emergency response. Programmes targeting pregnant and lactating women and children under two in Ecuador have been suspended, while rations were reduced for others, and the duration of time the aid was provided for fell as well. In Honduras, WFP reached only about 50% of the targeted population. Among those who received assistance, 95% were children benefiting from school meals. Funding for other operations is extremely scarce.   In Haiti, where soaring gang violence has been both driving up needs and hampering aid work, funds for emergency response were almost exhausted by September, and operations in the country have only received 10% of the funding needed. Some 4.9 million people in Haiti – over 40% of the population – now face severe hunger. In July, WFP had to cut 100,000 people – 25% of emergency food assistance recipients – from its rolls due to dwindling funds. A total of 750,000 people who are in need of assistance have fallen through the cracks because of this lack of resources.   “It’s a very bad time to have to reduce the coverage of emergency programmes,” Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP country director in Haiti, told The New Humanitarian.   The New Humanitarian interviewed residents of the Saint-Aude Camp, a cramped settlement for internally displaced people in the heart of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, where 115 people, including about 30 children, live in tiny, sweltering houses.   Although the camp was established after the 2010 earthquake, it is now receiving people fleeing gang violence in other parts of the capital.   Nickencia Sidney, a 23-year-old single mother, fled the Carrefour-Feuilles district of Port-au-Prince for the Saint-Aude Camp after gangs set her house on fire last July. Her two-year-old daughter, Naella Jean-Louis, is staying with friends while Sidney tries to find more permanent housing, and a reliable food source.   “It may happen that I eat once a day. It may happen that I don’t eat anything; I just stay like that,” Sidney told The New Humanitarian. “Sometimes, I have weakness and dizziness. When I stand up after sitting, I black out. When I’m out on the streets, my eyes hurt with the glare of the sun. Sometimes, I take to the streets, and I cannot walk because I feel so weak.”   In mid-September, by reprioritising funding, the WFP managed to finance 49,000 hot meals at 19 sites around the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area for seven days. People in Saint-Aude received one hot meal per day for a week. But Haitians who are living in camps often prefer to receive raw food because it lasts longer and gives them more flexibility to consume it or trade it for other items they need.   “I am very worried,” said Bauer, the WFP country director. “When there is an earthquake, you rebuild the country; when there is drought, you tell yourself that there will be an agricultural campaign and harvesting the year after. But now, we don't see the end of the problem.”   The ongoing El Nino climate pattern – which typically brings more extreme weather, including more severe storms and rainfall in some places and drought in others – is expected to exacerbate food insecurity around the world, including in Ecuador, which is also facing a surge in gang violence.   Hunger levels in the country have not yet risen, but the number of people who are severely food insecure rose from 6% to 7.5% in 2022, according to Crescenzo Rubinetti, head of WFP’s emergency preparedness and response team in the country.   “We are trying to prepare for [El Niño],” said Rubinetti. “​​But we had at the beginning of 2023 a high impact from heavy rain, with 100,000 people affected... There is no capacity in the country to respond to this kind of crisis.”   In Honduras, WFP estimates that about 2.8 million people are exposed to the climate crisis, but if donors do not pledge more funding, they won't receive any food assistance in case of emergency.   Meanwhile, in Colombia, WFP expects those affected by El Niño to reach 1.5 to 3.5 million. “When we look at what has been foreseen for El Nino, there is a serious concern,” said Carlo Scaramella, the WFP country director there. “At WFP, at the moment, we do not have the capacity to respond to these needs.”   WFP Colombia expects funding cuts to be less dramatic in 2024 but is still anticipating a 15% reduction across all its programmes. At the regional level, however, WFP expects funding shortages for emergency response to increase and cuts to affect additional countries from the dry corridor of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.   (Ali M. Latifi reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Harold Isaac reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Abd Almajed Alkarh reported from Idlib, Syria. Sophie Neiman reported from Kampala, Uganda. Patricia Huon reported from Adré, Chad. Additional reporting from Philip Kleinfeld, Paisley Dodds, and Annie Slemrod in London, UK; Daniela Mohor in Santiago, Chile; and Kristof Titeca in Antwerp, Belgium. The interactive map was produced by Marc Fehr, Sofia Kuan, and Namukabo Werungah. Edited by Tom Brady, Eric Reidy, and Andrew Gully).   http://www.wfp.org/stories/2023-pictures-ration-cuts-threaten-catastrophe-millions-facing-hunger http://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-9-november-2023 http://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/hunger-hotspots-fao-wfp-early-warnings-acute-food-insecurity-november-2023-april-2024-outlook http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/en/   http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2023/12/13/wfp-aid-food-cuts-mean-people-hunger-crisis-around-world http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2024/01/08/why-these-10-humanitarian-crises-demand-your-attention-now http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2024/01/02/trends-driving-humanitarian-need-2024-and-what-do-about-them http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2024/01/03/editors-picks-stories-2024 http://www.care-international.org/resources/breaking-silence-ten-humanitarian-crises-didnt-make-headlines-2023 Visit the related web page
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