The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has called the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports a war crime, emphasizing that hunger should not be used as a weapon of war.
– It is impossible to imagine that millions of tons of grain remain blocked in Ukraine while people around the world suffer from hunger. This is a true war crime, and I cannot imagine that it will last much longer. You cannot use people’s hunger as a weapon in war – Borrell stated before the start of the meeting of foreign ministers of member states in Luxembourg.
He added that the consequences of the war are becoming dangerous not only for Ukraine but for the entire world.
– We must once again warn of the danger of hunger in the world, especially in Africa. The war leads to rising prices and shortages of energy and food – Borrell said.
Borrell warns of the danger of hunger in the world, as if it were news and as if the current war is the culprit for the situation.
UN Warning
The UN warns that there is more than enough food produced worldwide to feed the global population, yet despite this, 811 million people still suffer from hunger. They add that hunger affects 9.9 percent of people globally. From 2019 to 2020, the number of undernourished people increased by as much as 161 million, a crisis fueled by conflicts and especially the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before this increase in recent years, the world had made significant progress in reducing hunger. In fact, in 2000, world leaders joined the United Nations and civil society in a commitment to meet eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the first of which was ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’.
In 2015, the UN published a report showing the world’s progress in achieving that goal and outlined a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The second of the Millennium Development Goals is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.
