Armed conflict is a leading cause of hunger, says FAO
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《英国医生杂志》
Armed conflict is now the leading cause of hunger around the world, concludes a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that was presented to the Committee on World Food Security in Rome last week.
A severely malnourished man in 1998, during Sudan's last outbreak of famine induced by war
Credit: PAUL LOWE/PANOS
The goal of halving hunger worldwide by the year 2015, set by the World Food Summit in 1996, will be missed by a wide margin if current trends persist, warns the report. But the goal of cutting the proportion of hungry and poor people may be achieved in most regions outside sub-Saharan Africa.
The committee, which met to review progress in reducing world hunger and achieving the UN's millennium development goals, was told that armed conflict was the major obstacle to progress, with the effects of HIV and AIDS and climate change not far behind.
"Conflict destroys lives, opportunities and environments and may be one of the most significant obstacles to sustainable development as it can destroy in hours and days what has taken years and decades to develop," says the report.
Speaking at a funding conference for Darfur last week, UN secretary general Kofi Annan described the situation as "unacceptable." He said that civilians were still at risk and subject to attacks and that violence was increasingly targeted at aid workers, hampering their work.
He also warned of a $350m (￡190m; 280m) shortfall in aid for the rest of Sudan, where more than three million people still rely on food aid.
Meanwhile, Paul Foreman, head of Médecins sans Frontières in Sudan was arrested on 30 May for publishing a report on rape in Darfur. The agency is "outraged by the charges" and insists on the accuracy of the report, which detailed 500 known cases.(Peter Moszynski)
A severely malnourished man in 1998, during Sudan's last outbreak of famine induced by war
Credit: PAUL LOWE/PANOS
The goal of halving hunger worldwide by the year 2015, set by the World Food Summit in 1996, will be missed by a wide margin if current trends persist, warns the report. But the goal of cutting the proportion of hungry and poor people may be achieved in most regions outside sub-Saharan Africa.
The committee, which met to review progress in reducing world hunger and achieving the UN's millennium development goals, was told that armed conflict was the major obstacle to progress, with the effects of HIV and AIDS and climate change not far behind.
"Conflict destroys lives, opportunities and environments and may be one of the most significant obstacles to sustainable development as it can destroy in hours and days what has taken years and decades to develop," says the report.
Speaking at a funding conference for Darfur last week, UN secretary general Kofi Annan described the situation as "unacceptable." He said that civilians were still at risk and subject to attacks and that violence was increasingly targeted at aid workers, hampering their work.
He also warned of a $350m (￡190m; 280m) shortfall in aid for the rest of Sudan, where more than three million people still rely on food aid.
Meanwhile, Paul Foreman, head of Médecins sans Frontières in Sudan was arrested on 30 May for publishing a report on rape in Darfur. The agency is "outraged by the charges" and insists on the accuracy of the report, which detailed 500 known cases.(Peter Moszynski)