hunger

In reaction to the GRFC 2023, Oxfam Global Food and Economic Security Lead, Emily Farr, said:  “For global hunger to rise for a fourth consecutive year in a world of plenty is a stain on our collective humanity. Decades of progress made to end poverty and hunger are being fast-reversed by conflict, economic shocks, and climate change.  

In reaction to the Virtual High-Level Pledging Event on the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, which took place today, where international donors pledged only around $1.2 billion out of the total $4.3 billion UN's appeal for the country, Ferran Puig, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen, said: “The money pledged today is nowhere near enough. The world must not look away while Yemen faces a humanitarian crisis - the consequence of doing so will be tragic."

Despite promises, nearly three-quarters of African governments reduced their agricultural budgets while paying almost double that on arms.

In reaction to the 2023 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan published today, Oxfam Country Director in Somalia, Adil AlMahi, said: “With five failed rain seasons, Somalia is quickly moving towards what may be one of its worst humanitarian crises in recent history. People’s ability to cope has been stretched to a breaking point. They have nothing left to fall back on. 

In reaction to today’s UN 2023 Global Humanitarian Outlook report, revealing that 339 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid - the highest caseload in history -  Oxfam’s Global Humanitarian Director Marta Valdes Garcia said: “One in every 23 people around the world –the equivalent of nearly half of the entire population of Europe– is now in urgent need of humanitarian aid. This news must be an immediate wake-up call. 

After enduring more than seven years of brutal conflict the people of Yemen have finally had the opportunity to experience what it means to feel hopeful. An unprecedented truce, now in its sixth month, brings with it the possibility for longer-term peace and the chance to rebuild lives and livelihoods. But while the conflict has slowed, humanitarian needs continue to increase, and the humanitarian response remains under and unequally funded. 

As Yemen enters its eighth year of conflict, the country remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than two thirds of the population – over 23 million people – need humanitarian assistance. Millions of Yemenis' lives have been shattered as they face a collapsing economy marked by rounds of currency depreciation and lost livelihoods, a fuel crisis, and destroyed vital infrastructure, dramatic hikes in the prices of essential commodities like food, fuel, and medicine, along with non-existent or irregular payment of public wages.  This is pushing more and more people into extreme levels of hunger. The severe funding shortfall for the humanitarian response has further burdened the Yemeni people – right now, Yemen is the least funded response globally. 
 

With one person estimated to be dying of hunger every four seconds, 238 local and international non-governmental organizations are calling on leaders gathering at the 77th UN General Assembly to take decisive action to end the spiralling global hunger crisis. 

As UNGA77 kicks off, Oxfam experts are engaging with a delegation in New York along with remote participation. Oxfam experts will be focused on issues including Hunger and the Global Food System, Climate Justice, the crisis in Yemen, Ukraine, COVID-19 recovery, Inequality, Education, and more. 

In reaction to FAO’s new “State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World 2022” report, stating that as many as 828 million people were hungry in 2021, an increase of 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam Food Policy Lead said: “It is deeply concerning that global hunger has been spiralling since 2019 and is now at such devastating levels around the world. This is happening not because of a shortage of food but rather as a consequence of a broken food system further undermined by conflicts, the effects of the COVID pandemic and worsening climate change.