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.
Tag Archives: Syria
Update on Syrian peace talks and hunger crisis
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.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
Humanitarians encourage Syrian peace talks
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.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
UNICEF doctor says Syrian children need life-saving Plumpy’Nut
Deadly malnutrition is threatening Syrian children says Dr. Rajia Sharhan of UNICEF. Having just witnessed the hunger and suffering in the town of Madaya, Dr.Sharhan said yesterday “It’s becoming here more visible that malnutrition exists in the besieged areas.”
Over 13 million Syrians need humanitarian aid because of the five year civil war. But many Syrians live in areas under siege and blocked by military forces from receiving deliveries of life-saving food and medicine.
Madaya is one of those towns. This month UNICEF and other relief agencies were finally allowed back into Madaya for the first time since October. What aid workers saw was shocking. There was malnutrition and death right before their eyes.
Dr. Sharhan says “Children need Plumpy Nut, Supplementary Plumpy and Plumpy Doz in addition to micronutrient interventions.” Plumpy is an enriched peanut paste which can save children from malnutrition, but only if aid workers can reach them.
Children who suffer with malnutrition will have lasting physical and mental damage unless treated in time. Or they may perish as some have tragically in Madaya and other areas under siege.
Humanitarian agencies are demanding full and regular access to areas under siege in Syria. UNICEF’s Hanna Singer says the relief agency “reiterates its previous call on all parties to the conflict to lift the siege on communities in Syria and provide unimpeded, unconditional and sustained humanitarian access to allow teams to conduct assessments of health, nutrition and other humanitarian needs, the provision of on-site medical and nutritional therapeutic care and the immediate medical evacuation of women and children in critical condition.”
There is hope that a nationwide ceasefire can be implemented which would allow relief supplies to flow into areas of need. The ceasefire would coincide with peace talks in Geneva.
Dr. Sharhan says the relief agencies hope to send another convoy of supplies to the Madaya area on Saturday. The convoy will contain three months of supplies.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
Syria Needs Its Own Peace of Christmas Eve
Secretary of State John Kerry says, “the time is now to stop the killing in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government that the long-suffering people of that battered land can support.”
Ending the civil war in Syria can bring relief to the over 13 million Syrians who have suffered from food and medicine shortages. Peace in Syria can rally all the necessary power to defeat the terrorist group ISIS (Daesh) which has thrived because of the chaos of the war.
Clearly we all need peace in Syria. That would be the best holiday gift for the whole world.
See my commentary at The Huffington Post.
Filed under History, Uncategorized
Syria: airstrikes displace civilians, food supplies destroyed
The United Nations says that airstrikes by Syria‘s government and allies have intensified in the northwest part of the country. Also, in a report released yesterday, the Norwegian Refugee Council says relief agencies have been forced to suspend operations in these conflict zones. This at a time when civilians are most in need.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
My History News Network Thanksgiving Column
This Thanksgiving season take a moment and let your mind wander back to the autumn of 1947. That’s when the Greatest Generation again rose to meet a challenge and help those in need.
They started the tradition of setting aside a plate at the Thanksgiving table for a “silent guest,” one of the world’s hungry.
See my full commentary at The History News Network
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
Study shows drastic impact of food aid cuts to Syrians
The UN World Food Programme (WFP), in a report released today, says that food ration cuts quickly have a drastic impact on Syrian refugees. In September, WFP did an assessment on Syrian families in Jordan who were no longer receiving WFP assistance.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger, Uncategorized
ISIS starving civilians in Syria, Iraq with blockade
The Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS), which has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris, France on Friday, continues to starve hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria and Iraq. The terrorist group is blocking humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in the two war-torn countries.
Read the full article at Examiner.
Filed under global hunger
Plumpy’Nut needed in Northern Syria
The food Plumpy’Nut is desperately needed for hungry children in northern Syria, according to a new report released by the United Nations.
Read the update at Examiner:
Filed under global hunger
