Food

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative today released the 2024 Multidimensional Poverty Index, which finds that 1.1 billion people across 112 countries live in multidimensional poverty. Over half of the 1.1 billion poor (584 million) are children under the age of 18.

Calling attention to the debt distress, food insecurity and violent conflict plaguing Africa, speakers in the General Assembly today called for heightened multilateral efforts to support the continent as it pursues a transformational agenda.

In Myanmar, amid an expanding conflict, an estimated 1 million people are also suffering from the impacts of deadly flooding. To bolster emergency relief efforts, the Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, allocated $4 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund at the end of September.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, today announced an additional $2 million from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to address the deteriorating situation in that country, bringing the total allocation to $12 million so far.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on World Food Day, observed 16 October:

In Haiti, half of the country’s population, 5.4 million people face acute hunger, according to new analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Two million are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger and at least 6,000 displaced people face catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

The Special Coordinator for Lebanon is in Israel where she is meeting with Israeli authorities to discuss the latest situation and the Head of the UN Peacekeeping Mission is in contact with both Lebanese and Israeli parties, stressing the urgent need for de-escalation. Efforts are ongoing to reduce tensions and halt shelling.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today issued its latest report on Myanmar, detailing a range of serious human rights violations that continue to underscore the deepening crisis and lack of rule of law throughout the country.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the high-level presidential summit of the 2024 Africa Food Systems Forum, in Kigali today:

On the situation in Venezuela, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) highlighted the urgent need for increased support for over 4 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the Americas.