It was President Ronald Reagan who said his goal was “to reduce substantially, and ultimately to eliminate, nuclear weapons and rid the world of the nuclear threat.” Reagan set in motion treaties reducing nuclear arms. Likewise, President Obama has also advocated the elimination of nukes.
See my full commentary at The Hill.
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The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, visited drought-ravaged Ethiopia last week. He urged support to prevent another famine in the East African nation.
The food shortages and suffering in Ethiopia reminded the Secretary General of his own experiences growing in the Korean War. There was hunger and displacement caused by the conflict between the North and the South.
Ban Ki-moon said, “more than 60 years ago when I was young, a young boy in Korea, early 1950s. As you may know, Korea had war at the time. When the war broke out, we were [in a situation] as difficult as people are now here, even more difficult at the time.”
Humanitarian aid was crucial for Koreans. The United Nations Civil Assistance teams provided food, medicine and shelter for displaced war victims.
The United States Food for Peace program helped with post-war relief in Korea including school meals for millions of children. When the United Nations World Food Programme was created in the 1960’s, one of its earliest project was helping South Korea recover.
Ban Ki-moon added, “At the time, humanitarians and United Nations support came and I am feeling very much moved that the boy, the young boy who went through that kind of difficulties is now standing before you as UN Secretary-General.”
The Secretary General is urging donors to come forward and support Ethiopia in their time of need. The number of humanitarian emergencies including Syria, Ethiopia, Yemen have created a huge strain on relief agencies.
Civilians in these war and disaster torn nations are lacking food, shelter, medical care and education. The Secretary General added, “The Sustainable Development Goals agreed last year are based on the promise to leave no one behind. Humanitarian crises are the main reason why some hundred million people are currently left far behind, in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere.”
Read the full article at Examiner.
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Secretary of State John Kerry said today it’s urgent that humanitarian access be granted to besieged areas of Syria. The warring forces continue to block food and other supplies from reaching starving civilians.
Kerry, in a video message, said Syrians are starving to death, including in the town of Madaya. The World Food Programme, UNICEF and other relief agencies have been blocked repeatedly from reaching the town and others. Kerry said there are “walking skeletons” in Madaya.
Kerry welcomed the Syrian opposition’s decision to attend peace talks in Geneva to end the five year civil war. He added, “The world is hoping that both sides will move quickly to meet the needs of millions of desperate Syrians, to reduce the pressure on neighboring countries, to reduce the levels of migration, and to help restore peace and stability.”
A nationwide ceasefire is the first step being urged in the Geneva talks. This would allow humanitarian aid to pass freely to the suffering civilians and give a chance for peace talks to succeed.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners are pleading for access to the hungry. There are about 4.5 million Syrians living in besieged or hard to reach areas of the country.
Each day that passes means more people starving to death, and Syrian children suffering the irreversible effects of malnutrition. Syrians must take this opportunity for peace or there will be nothing left of their country.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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With the first primaries and caucuses of the 2016 presidential election about to start, voters will be checking out each candidate’s track record. For Hillary Clinton, this includes an award for leadership in the fight against world hunger.
The World Food Program USA, in 2010, awarded Clinton the George McGovern Leadership Award “for her commitment and visionary approach to ending global hunger.” The World Food Program USA supports the work of the UN World Food Programme, the lead agency fighting hunger worldwide.
Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time, helped create The Feed the Future initiative to help small farmers across the globe. The ability of each nation to produce their own food is the key to ending hunger.
Fighting hunger is a vital element of foreign policy. Clinton, upon receiving the award, stated “We know very well that hunger is a drain on economic development. It is a threat to the stability of governments and it certainly it deprives us of the talents and energy of nearly a billion people worldwide.”
Today, conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Ukraine, South Sudan and the Central African Republic have led to the most hungry refugees since World War II. Droughts in East Africa and Central America are increasing the ranks of the hungry.
For the next president, fighting hunger will need to be a major aspect of foreign policy. It will be for domestic policy as well. Early voting states South Carolina and Nevada have child hunger rates over 25 percent according to Feeding America. Iowa comes in at over 19 percent in terms of child hunger.
Definitely more can be done to fight hunger at home and abroad. Food will certainly need to be a major theme of the campaign season.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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As the Ukraine struggles with a hunger crisis, the UN World Food Programme says it will continue its emergency operation through June. The WFP announced it would feed more than 260,000 people affected by the ongoing conflict between the government and pro-Russian rebels.
Hunger is expected to rise during the winter months, especially among those internally displaced by the war. Since fighting erupted in 2014, more than 1.5 million have been uprooted from their homes.
WFP Ukraine director Giancarlo Stopponi says the situation has become desperate for war victims. There is no end to the fighting in sight.
Access to parts of Eastern Ukraine is also extremely difficult for humanitarians. Stopponi said this week that many Ukrainians are “either trapped by the conflict or have fled their homes, thinking they would return in a few months and are now living in difficult conditions, especially in winter when temperatures are extremely low.”
Never before had WFP operated in the Ukraine. There had never been a need. But with war comes hunger and WFP has sprung to action to help the Ukraine.
However, with emergencies taking place in Syria, South Sudan, Iraq, and Yemen resources are much harder to come by. WFP is low on funding for the Ukraine, threatening its mission. Around US $ 35 million is urgently needed by WFP to provide food parcels, vouchers and nutrition programs for children.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, addressed all Syrians on Thursday ahead of peace talks to end the civil war. Syria lies in ruin from the five year conflict between the government and rebels. Famine is threatening millions.
Mistura said, “The horror is in front of everyone’s eyes” and the sides must be able to compromise to reach a peaceful solution. The peace talks are scheduled to begin on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mistura asked the Syrian people to “raise your voice” and demand an end to the war. Mistura added “you Syrian people, you women, men and children of Syria saying: Enough, khalas, kefaya, enough killing, murdering, torturing, prisons.”
A first step of the Intra-Syrian peace talks will be to get a nationwide ceasefire. This will allow food and other humanitarian aid to reach trapped Syrians.
The humanitarian crisis continues to worsen. The director of the World Food Programme, Etharin Cousin, told the UN Security Council “Every day, we receive alarming reports of lack of food, of lack of water, of acute malnutrition, and of death.”
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the lead agency fighting hunger in Syria. The WFP is feeding about 4 million Syrians a month and also million of refugees in the Middle East. It’s a struggle reach many parts of Syria and some areas are completely blocked off by the armies.
Cousin added “Preventing a humanitarian crisis requires humanitarian pauses and unconditional, monitored ceasefires to allow food and other urgent assistance to be delivered to civilians, to support the necessary vaccinations and other health campaigns.” Right now there are 500,000 Syrians completely blocked from receiving humanitarian aid. The number of Syrians living in hard to reach areas is about 4.5 million.
A peace settlement is the only way for the suffering to end. It’s the only way to save Syria.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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Food supplies are starting to reach the Yemeni city of Taiz, which has been under siege from a civil war. Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has been engulfed in conflict since last year.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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The director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, will be making a speech about Syria before the Security Council on Wednesday. The speech will take place at 10 a.m. eastern time.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said today that Syrian peace talks have been delayed until Friday, January 29. The talks were scheduled to start on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland.
However, Mistura said there were disagreements on who would be invited to the talks. The peace effort aims to end the five-year civil war between the government and rebels.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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Kerry urged an end to the five year conflict between the government and rebels. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died, while millions more face severe food shortages.
Read the full article at Examiner.
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Author William Lambers 