Food

The 2021 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan seeks $3.85 billion to provide urgent lifesaving help to 16 million people.  Some 20.7 million people need some kind of humanitarian assistance, including 12.1 million people in acute need, as Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and largest aid operation.

At least 14 civilians were killed in an attack by suspected combatants of the ADF on Sunday night in Bulongo village, east of Beni, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported.  The Mission’s Force Intervention Brigade deployed to the area yesterday.

The world is facing multiple conflict-driven famines, aggravated by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, and without immediate action, millions of people — from the Sahel to Afghanistan — could well find themselves on the brink of extreme hunger and death this year, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, warned the Security Council today.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released new data today saying that nearly 12 million women lost access to contraception due to pandemic-related disruptions, leading to some 1.4 million unintended pregnancies.  However, health systems in many of the 115 countries adapted and continue to provide services.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council debate on conflict and food security, held today:

The United Nations and the Government of Iraq today released the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan which seeks $607.2 million in humanitarian aid to assist 1.5 million of the most vulnerable internally displaced people in Iraq and returnees.  According to the overview, 4.1 million Iraqis need humanitarian assistance.

Food systems caused more than one third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new Food and Agriculture Organization/European Commission study, which says food system emissions are estimated at 34 per cent of the total.  Top emitters are China, Indonesia, United States, Brazil, European Union and India.

About 931 million tons of food — or 17 per cent of all food available to consumers in 2019 and roughly equal to 23 million fully loaded 40-ton trucks bumper-to-bumper, enough to circle the Earth seven times — were trashed by households, retailers, restaurants and other food services, a UNEP report says.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration today began preparing asylum seekers in the Matamoros camp for entry to the United States as the country ends a policy that forced some 25,000 people to wait in Mexico for their immigration hearings.

The number of civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan rose following the start of peace negotiations in September, according to report released today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Organization’s human rights office.  The country remains among the deadliest for civilians.